Indian shares continued their bull run Wednesday, after a day's holiday on account of Sikhism's founder Guru Nanak's birthday, to prop up a key market index by over 100 points or 1.2 percent.

Unlike the previous few sessions where rallies were marked by high volatility, there were only upward surges Wednesday in which the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) briefly breached the psychologically important 8,600-point mark.

As trading ended, the barometer index had touched the level of 8,585.92 points, to register a gain of 101.63 points or 1.2 percent over the previous close of 8,494.29 points.

The index never came below the 8,500-point mark, with the day's low of 8,503.00 points and a high of 8,606.96 points. The gains were also broad based, evidenced from the fact that 26 out of 30 Sensex shares closed higher.

"There was buying interest in a wide range of sectors including banking, auto, software and cement, even as there was some amount of weakness in pharma and energy counters," an analyst with a brokerage here said.

"The markets were also buoyed by the fact that foreign institutional investors have continued to be net buyers in the current month, which has more than made up for the profit taking by domestic funds."

Data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) showed that foreign funds had invested $325 million in equities markets in the current month, as against a net withdrawal of $840.90 million in the previous month.

The gainers among the Sensex stocks were led by Infosys Technologies, which was up 3.25 percent at Rs.2,737.75, followed by Reliance Energy, up 3.14 percent at Rs.562.05, and Reliance Industries, up 2.48 percent at Rs.817.50.

The losers were led by Ranbaxy Labs, down 1.22 percent at Rs.388, followed by Housing Development Corp, down one percent at Rs.1,067.80, Hindustan Lever Ltd, down 0.91 percent at Rs.168.85 and Bharat Heavy Electricals, down 0.63 percent at Rs.1,267.35.