Indian equities started the new fiscal year on a strong note on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex surging over 520 points to settle above the 50,000-level on across-the-board buying by participants amid positive global cues.

At the closing bell, the 30-share BSE index quoted 520.68 points or 1.05 per cent higher at 50,029.83.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty rose 176.65 points or 1.2 per cent to settle at 14,867.35.

On the Sensex chart, 25 shares ended with gains.

IndusInd Bank, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finance and Ultratech Cement were prominent gainers.

On the other hand, HUL, Nestle, HDFC Bank, TCS, Titan and Tech Mahindra suffered losses.

Binod Modi, Head - Strategy at Reliance Securities, said, Domestic equities shrugged-off COVID-19 spikes on favourable global cues and recovered sharply mainly led by strong buying in financials and automobile stocks. Strong monthly volume for March helped auto stocks to attract investors' interest.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.6 per cent lower at USD 63.95 per barrel.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses clocked gains as the announcement of US infrastructure stimulus plan boosted investor sentiment globally.

Foreign investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,685.91 crore in the Indian markets on Wednesday, exchange data showed.