Heavy buying was seen in the realty and PSU bank sectors of Nifty.

At closing, Sensex settled at 78,540.17, up by 498.58 points or 0.64 per cent and Nifty ended at 23,753.45, up by 165.95 points, or 0.70 per cent.

Nifty Bank ended at 51,317.60 up by 558.40 points, or 1.10 per cent. The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 57,092.9 at the end of trading after gaining 186.15 points, or 0.33 per cent. While Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed at 18,687.80 after dropping 26.50 points or 0.14 per cent.

The Indian market demonstrated optimism following the recent sell-off.

According to experts, the lower-than-expected US personal consumption expenditure (PCE) print bolstered investor sentiment in interest rate-sensitive sectors. Broad-based buying was observed, with the metals sector notably benefiting from the anticipated increase in steel import taxes.

"Despite the positive market sentiment, the short-term outlook is expected to remain sideways due to a lack of new catalysts and the impact of the festive season and holidays," they added.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), 1,640 shares ended in green and 2,445 in red, whereas there was no change in 133 shares.

On the sectoral front, all sectors ended in green except Auto, Media and Healthcare.

In the Sensex pack, ITC, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Titan, SBI, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers. Whereas, Zomato, Maruti, Nestle India, HCL Tech and Bajaj Finserv were the top losers.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 3,597.82 crore on December 20, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,374.37 crore on the same day.

In early trade, the Indian stock market jumped more than 600 points in amid positive mixed global cues.

Courtesy Media Group: IANS