Equity benchmark indices shaved off early gains but closed in the positive zone on Thursday following a rally in IT stocks amid dynamic global cues. The BSE S&P Sensex closed 304 points or 0.76 per cent at 40,183 while the Nifty 50 gained by 96 points or 0.83 per cent at 11,835. Tata Consultancy Services rose by 3 per cent to Rs 2,819 per share after reporting 6.6 per cent sequential growth to Rs 7,475 crore in the July to September quarter. It also decided to buy back up to 2.2 billion dollars in shares. HCL Technologies and Infosys were up by 2.6 per cent each. Pharma major Cipla ticked up by 4.9 per cent, Sun Pharma by 2.3 per cent and Dr Reddy's by 1.9 per cent. However, energy majors GAIL and ONGC dipped by 3 per cent and 2.8 per cent respectively. Eicher Motors, ITC, Asian Paints and Reliance Industries too traded with a negative bias. Meanwhile, Asian shares climbed to a one-month high as renewed hopes for more US stimulus helped restore investor confidence. Japan's Nikkei added 0.96 per cent while South Korea's Kospi moved up by 0.21 per cent. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell by 0.56 per cent.