Mumbai

Indian equity benchmarks rebounded on Friday, supported by gains in banking heavyweights and firm global market cues amid optimism over easing geopolitical tensions.

The BSE Sensex rose 231.99 points, or 0.31 per cent, to close at 75,415.35 after touching an intra-day high of 75,810.97. The NSE Nifty also advanced 64.60 points, or 0.27 per cent, to settle at 23,719.30.

Buying interest in major banking and financial stocks lifted the indices. Among the top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Finance. Shares of Trent, Asian Paints and Hindustan Unilever also ended in the green.

On the other hand, Sun Pharma, ITC, Power Grid and Bharat Electronics were among the notable losers.

Market sentiment received support from positive global trends and hopes of progress in US-Iran peace talks, which improved overall investor confidence.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments, said domestic markets witnessed mild gains driven by value buying and encouraging global signals amid expectations of reduced tensions in West Asia. He added that financial stocks remained the key drivers of the rally, while globally the artificial intelligence investment theme continued to support sentiment.

Brent crude oil prices climbed 2.3 per cent to USD 104.7 per barrel.

Asian markets ended mostly higher, with gains seen in Japan’s Nikkei 225, South Korea’s Kospi, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Shanghai’s SSE Composite indices. European markets were also trading with gains, while US markets had closed higher on Thursday.

According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,891.21 crore in the previous trading session.

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On Thursday, the Sensex had fallen 135.03 points to close at 75,183.36, while the Nifty slipped 4.30 points to end at 23,654.70.