Indian shares ended with mild gains on Thursday, supported by a rise in Asian and US markets but worries over a spike in coronavirus cases in the country kept gains in check. Investors remained cautious that a rapid spread could further hit an already slowing economy.

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The BSE Sensex ended 61 points higher at 38,470, while the Nifty50 index settled 18 points higher at 11,269. Meanwhile, the broader markets were mixed in trade with the Nifty Midcap index up 0.05 percent and Nifty Smallcap index down 0.1 percent.

Among stocks, Yes Bank, Eicher Motors, HCL Tech, Kotak Bank, and HUL were the top gainers on the Nifty50 index, while Zee, Hindalco, Bharti Infratel, Reliance Industries, and Cipla led the losses.

Sectoral indices were mixed for the day. Major buying was seen in Nifty FMCG and Nifty PSU Bank indices, up over 1 percent each. Meanwhile, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Bank also added 0.7 percent and 0.5 percent for the day. Nifty Auto was also up around 0.4 percent. Among losers, Nifty Realty shed 1 percent, whereas Nifty Metal lost 0.8 percent.

YES Bank share price rallied 27 percent after a Bloomberg report said that the government has approved a plan for State Bank of India to form a consortium that will buy a stake in the debt-ridden lender.

Globally, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7 percent, in its fourth day of gains. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.9 percent and hard-hit Australian shares finally managed a bounce of 1.1 percent. Shanghai blue chips put on 1.3 percent.