Mumbai, May 14 (PTI) Stock markets rose for the second consecutive day on Thursday with the benchmark Sensex jumping by nearly 790 points in a volatile session, driven by value buying in telecom, pharma and private banking shares.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 789.74 points, or 1.06 per cent, to close at 75,398.72. The index opened higher but slipped into negative territory in late morning deals. However, value buying in telecom and banking shares helped the barometer pare losses and later jump more than 1,000 points to a high of 75,681.88.

Extending gains to the second day, the 50-share NSE Nifty climbed 277 points, or 1.18 per cent, to finish at 23,689.60.

Among Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel emerged as the biggest gainer, rallying over 5 per cent after the telecom carrier's annual revenue crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore mark for the first time.

Eternal rose by 3.32 per cent while HDFC Bank advanced 2.67 per cent, emerging as the major contributor to the Sensex gains. Adani Ports, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan, Trent, UltraTech Cement, ITC and State Bank of India were among the other gainers.

On the other hand, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki India ended lower.

"Indian equities staged a counterintuitive recovery from intraday lows and ended higher despite the rupee hitting a record low and crude remaining elevated," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.

Investor confidence was bolstered in anticipation of potential government measures to mitigate INR weakness, including consideration of bond tax relief for foreign investors and potential tightening of the Liberalized Remittance Scheme to stem capital outflows, he added.

"Sentiment was further anchored by positive cues from the Trump-Xi summit, which raised hopes of expanding economic cooperation.

"Sectorally, while pharma and healthcare advanced owing to sectoral rotation, metals gained on higher metal prices and improving demand expectations from China. Conversely, the IT stocks extended their decline," Nair said.

In Asian markets, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark ended lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled flat. However, South Korea's Kospi closed higher.

European equity markets traded in positive territory. Wall Street ended mostly higher on Wednesday.

Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, rose nearly 1 per cent to USD 106.48 per barrel.

The rupee fell to a low of 95.73 against the US dollar due to high crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 4,703.15 crore on Wednesday, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) purchased stocks for Rs 5,869.05 crore, according to exchange data.

On Wednesday, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 49.74 points to settle at 74,608.98. The 50-share NSE edged higher by 33.05 points to end at 23,412.60. PTI HG MR