Stocks remained on the back foot as the Sensex on Wednesday down 144.87 points to close at 29,643.48, while the broader Nifty-50 index ended at 9,203.45, down 33.55 points, on investor optimism about March quarter earnings. Investors are looking forward to a set of economic data IIP for February and CPI inflation for March due on Wednesday.    

Meantime, Vedanta Ltd ended 2 per cent higher while Cairn India rose 1.65 per cenet after the former announced that it completed the buyout of the latter. At intraday trade, Cairn India hit its 52-week high advancing 3% while Vedanta rose 3.7%. 

The rupee reversing some of its losses and approaching Infosys Q4 results propped up IT stocks. Hopes of good show by Infosys for the March quarter helped. Banks continue to look forward to NPA resolution measures, and the strength was visible today.