Indian benchmark indices ended higher for the third consecutive session on April 21, supported by broad-based buying across sectors, as reports of a second round of talks between the U.S. and Iran boosted hopes of a resolution to the ongoing conflict.

At close, the Sensex was up 753.03 points or 0.96 percent at 79,273.33, and the Nifty was up 211.75 points or 0.87 percent at 24,576.60.

Broader indices also ended higher with Nifty Midcap index up 0.5 percent and smallcap index rose nearly 1 percent.


Biggest Nifty gainers were Nestle India, HUL, Trent, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, while losers were SBI Life Insurance, Bharat Electronics, Jio Financial, Dr Reddy's Labs and Titan Company.

All the sectoral indices ended in the green with FMCG and Realty up 2% each, while bank, telecom up 1% each.

More than 140 stocks touched their 52-week high on the BSE, including Bank of Maharashtra, AU Small Finance Bank, Data Patterns, Syrma SGS, SAIL, Hitachi Energy, Welspun Corp, JSW Energy, Adani Ports, Lloyds Metals, CG Power, Siemens, JSW Steel, Apar Industries, Schneider Infra, Cummins, NTPC, Vedanta, Jindal Steel, NMDC, among others.

In stock-specific action, PNB Housing Finance shares jumped more than 8% after the company reported a 14% rise in Q4 standalone profit, while Nelco shares gained 6% after posting a profit for the quarter.

Meanwhile, SML Mahindra shares slipped 7% despite reporting better earnings and Indosolar shares declined 5% as Q4 revenue fell 56%.

Billionbrains Garage Ventures (Groww) shares rallied 8% after the company’s Q4 net profit more than doubled.