Equity benchmark index Sensex ticked higher on Thursday to settle at 81,000 level while Nifty closed above 24,800 following buying in commodity, telecom and consumer stocks amid a firm trend in global markets.

Rising for the third straight day, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 147.89 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 81,053.19, registering gains for the third day in a row. During the day, it climbed 331.15 points to hit an intra-day high of 81,236.45.

Extending gains to a sixth session in a row, the NSE Nifty went up by 41.30 points or 0.17 per cent to end at 24,811.50.

Bharti Airtel was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 1.63 per cent, followed by Tata Steel, ICICI Bank, Titan, Asian Paints and Ultratech Cements.

On the other hand, M&M, NTPC, Tata Motors, TCS and PowerGrid were the major losers.

"The domestic market witnessed modest gains owing to the positive global sentiments. Particularly, the recent signs of weakness in the US non-farm payroll data have strengthened the case for potential interest rate cuts in September," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said.

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong closed with gains, while Shanghai ended in the negative territory on Thursday.

European markets were trading with significant gains in the mid-session deals.

The US stock markets gained in overnight trade on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) again turned sellers on Wednesday as they offloaded equities worth Rs 799.74 crore, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.21 per cent to USD 76.21 a barrel.

On Wednesday, the 30-share index rose by 102.44 points to close at 80,905.30. The NSE Nifty went up by 71.35 points to end at 24,770.20.

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