Mumbai | Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty rebounded on Thursday after falling in the past two days and ended nearly 1 per cent higher, mainly on buying in HDFC Bank and Bajaj Finance.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 490.97 points or 0.69 per cent to settle at 71,847.57 points. During the day, it rallied 598.19 points or 0.83 per cent to 71,954.79 points.

The Nifty climbed 141.25 points or 0.66 per cent to 21,658.60 points.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance jumped 4.44 per cent and NTPC rose over 3 per cent. IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, Nestle, Power Grid, Infosys, Bajaj Finserv and HDFC Bank were the other major winners.

HCL Tech, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the negative territory.

European markets were trading in the green. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.92 per cent to USD 78.97 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 666.34 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark fell 535.88 points or 0.75 per cent to settle at 71,356.60 points while the Nifty slipped 148.45 points or 0.69 per cent to 21,517.35 points.