Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Thursday extended their gains for the fifth-straight session after shrugging off early losses.


The BSE Sensex has swung in a band of 468 points, before ending at 55,682, up 284 points, while the broader NSE Nifty closed at 16,610, up 89 points. The Nifty50 hit a high of 16,625 and a low of 16,484 during the day’s trade.


On the 30-share BSE platform, IndusInd Bank, L&T, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consumer Products, UPL, L&T, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Hindalco, and BPCL rose between 2 per cent and 8 per cent. Moreover, Tech M, Grasim, Divis Labs, Axis Bank, Adani Ports, Hindalco, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, and Power Grid added up to 2 per cent. 


On the flipside, Kotak Bank, Dr Reddy's Labs, SBI Life, Cipla, and Reliance Industries fell the most, down up to 2 per cent.


In the broader markets, Midcap and Smallcap shares finished on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 jumped 1.38 per cent and Smallcap climbed 0.77 per cent.


On NSE, 13 out of the 15 sector gauges settled in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank, Nifty FMCG, Nifty IT, and Nifty Oil & Gas outperformed the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.64 per cent, 0.79 per cent, 0.70 per cent, and 0.98 per cent, respectively. Nifty Pharma and Nifty Healthcare, however, fell as much as 0.47 per cent and 0.18 per cent, respectively.


The overall market breadth stood positive as 2,007 shares advanced, while 1,332 declined on the BSE.


In the previous session on Wednesday, Sensex had jumped 630 points (1.15 per cent) to close at 55,398, while Nifty had moved 180 points (1.1 per cent) higher to settle at 16,521.


In Asia, markets in Seoul and Tokyo ended in the green, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled lower.


Meanwhile, European stocks fell on Thursday as the region's investors awaited the European Central Bank's latest monetary policy decision. The FTSE index dropped 0.6 per cent, while the European STOXX 600 dipped 0.14 per cent.


Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude fell 3.90 per cent to $102.8 per barrel.


Foreign institutional investors were net buyers on Wednesday, picking up shares worth Rs 1,780.94 crore, as per exchange data.


"FIIs have turned net buyers of local shares to the tune of Rs 1,781 crore on Wednesday, extending the buying momentum for the third straight session," said Prashanth Tapse, Vice President (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.St