Indian equity benchmarks continued to recover for a second straight session on Thursday amid buying across sectors, boosted by strength in heavyweights Reliance, Infosys and the HDFC twins. HCL Tech shares saw cautious gains as investors awaited the software exporter's financial results due later in the day.

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NSE

Both headline indices held on to most of their intraday gains to settle 1.5 percent higher. The 30-scrip Sensex index surged 954 points or 1.7 percent to touch 57,991.5 at the strongest level of the day and the Nifty50 climbed to as high as 17,414.7.

Investors' wealth increased by Rs 3.5 lakh crore as the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies increased to Rs 271.8 lakh crore, according to provisional exchange data. They made Rs 5.7 lakh crore in two days.

Reliance, Infosys, HDFC, HDFC Bank and TCS together contributed more than 500 points to the gain in Sensex.

Reliance shares rose by Rs 63.8 or 2.5 percent to end at a record Rs 2,782.2 apiece on BSE. The stock was the biggest boost for both main indices.

Coal India shares moved 3.9 percent higher to Rs 206.9 -- rising for the fifth session in a row -- on the back of rising demand for the dry fuel.

HCL Technologies shares climbed up 0.9 percent as investors awaited the IT company's quarterly results due later in the day. The Nifty IT index rose 1.4 percent, also boosted by a 1.8 percent rise in TCS and Infosys each.

The Nifty Auto finished 2.2 percent higher to emerge the biggest gainer among NSE's sectoral gauges.

Broader indices mirrored the overall strength in the market. The Nifty Midcap 100 moved 1.1 percent higher for the day, and its smallcap counterpart 1.6 percent.

In the midcap and smallcap segments, Angel One, PNC Infratech, Phillips Carbon and RailTel -- surging around 6-18 percent -- were among the top gainers. On the other hand, ICICI Securities, Kalpataru Power, Gujarat Pipavav and Advanced Enzyme -- declining 2-5 percent -- were among the top losers.

Overall market breadth favoured the bulls with an advance-decline ratio of 5:2, as 1,477 stocks rose on NSE and 580 fell.

Global markets

European shares began the day in the green, shrugging off weakness in most other Asian markets, as the focus shifted to French elections. Besides, news flow on the Russia-Ukraine war and rising COVID cases in parts of the world remained on investors' radar. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.8 percent in early hours.

S&P 500 futures were also up 0.8 percent, suggesting a higher opening ahead on Wall Street.

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(Edited by : Sandeep Singh)