NEW DELHI: Bargain hunting at lower levels and firm cues from Asian markets helped domestic equity markets rise on Thursday for the first time in four days. Some buying in select IT, banking and oil & gas counters further lifted benchmark equity indices.

As a result, the BSE Sensex closed 346.38 points, or 1.06 per cent, up at 33,106.82, while NSE Nifty index settled 96.70 points, or 0.96 per cent, up at 10,214.75.

Overall, market mood remained firm throughout the day, as market participants believed that the recent correction was overdone.

More than 35 components in the Nifty index closed in green with Infosys gaining 4 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance (up 3.73 per cent), State Bank of India (up 2.77 per cent), Aurobindo Pharma (up 2.54 per cent) and Reliance Industries (up 2.44 per cent).

On the other hand, Adani Ports, Coal India, Ultratech Cement, BPCL and Zee Entertainment declined 2.21 per cent, 1.23 per cent, 0.85 per cent, 0.70 per cent and 0.46 per cent, respectively.

Nikhil Kamath, Co-Founder and Head of Trading, Zerodha said, “Constant buying throughout the session took Nifty over a per cent higher to close above the 10,220 level.”

Shares of Infosys hit three-month high in Thursday's trade after a recent depreciation in the rupee and a comment by founder N R Narayana Murthy suggesting all is well in the company. The scrip closed at Rs 989.95 against previous close of Rs 951.80.

Shares of IIFL Group's 5Paisa Capital on Thursday got listed at Rs 400 on NSE.

In few minutes into trading, the stock slipped to Rs 380, down 5 per cent over its listing price. On BSE, the stock got listed at Rs 650. The scrip closed at Rs 617.50 on BSE.

All the sectoral indices on bourses also closed in green. Nifty PSU Bank index climbed 3.22 per cent, followed by Nifty IT (up 1.75 per cent), Nifty Realty (up 1.33 per cent), Nifty FMCG (up 1.07 per cent) and Nifty Metal (up 1.01 per cent).

Asian peers Hang Seng and Nikkei settled higher by 0.58 per cent and 1.47 per cent, respectively.