The bulls were in full control today with both benchmark indices making a smart rally. The Sensex ended up 245.11 points or 0.9 percent at 26878.24 and the Nifty was up 83.30 points or 1 percent at 8273.80. About 1932 shares advanced, 899 shares declined, and 493 shares were unchanged.Analysts are hoping that Budget and earnings will drive market further. Experts at DSP BlackRock Investment Managers are betting on mean reversion in financials segment to spur earnings growth. While FY17 earnings growth will be impacted due to demonetisation exercise, Anup Maheshwari, Vice President and Head of Equities & Strategy at DSP BlackRock expects a 20 percent growth in FY18 on account of mean reversion in financials and global cyclical.

Manish Sonthalia, Head Equities- PMS, Motilal Oswal Asset Management sees a single-digit earnings growth in FY17. He says a downside in the market is more likely after the upcoming Budget is announced.

In stocks action, auto, bank, pharma, oil & gas and metal stocks rallied most. Adani, Tata Steel, ONGC and ICICI Bank were top gainers in the Sensex.

Tata Motors was up 3 percent riding high on Jaguar Land Rover sales in North America. JLR reported 30 percent growth in December sales after 19 percent YoY growth the previous month. The growth was again driven by Jaguar sales, up 259 percent YoY, while Land Rover sales were down 2 percent YoY.

The midcaps continued their good run and closed 1.3 percent higher. The banks finally contributed to index gains with ICICI Bank being the top contributor.

IT stocks slipped today and ended almost one percent in the red. TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech fell 1-2 percent intraday on visa woes as H1-B visa has been re-introduced in the US Congress by two lawmakers. A bill backing key changes in the H1-B programme that allows skilled workers from countries like India to fill high-tech jobs in the US has been re-introduced in  the US Congress by two lawmakers who claim that it will help crack down on the work visa abuse.