Bulls back on D-Street after New Year break

• Bajaj Finance jumped 4.44% and NTPC rose over 3%.
• HCL Tech, Mahindra & Mahindra, Maruti and Hindustan Unilever were among the laggards.
• Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the negative territory.

Benchmark indices, the Sensex and the Nifty, ended trade on Thursday comfortably in the green, mainly on buying in HDFC Bank and Bajaj Finance. The Sensex jumped 490.97 points to settle at 71,847.57 while the Nifty climbed 141.25 points to 21,658.60. During the day, it rallied 598.19 points or 0.83% to 71,954.79 points.

Among the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance jumped 4.44% and NTPC rose over 3%. 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% 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% to settle at 71,356.60 points while the Nifty slipped 148.45 points or 0.69% to 21,517.35 points.