New Delhi, July 24 -- Benchmark indices, Sensex and Nifty 50, posted solid gains on Wednesday, July 23, driven by favorable global cues and buying interest in select heavyweight stocks such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

The Sensex surged 540 points, or 0.66 per cent, to close at 82,726.64, while the Nifty 50 advanced 159 points, or 0.63 per cent, to settle at 25,219.90. The BSE Midcap index registered a rise of 0.24 per cent, and the Smallcap index ended marginally higher with a 0.05 per cent gain.

Sumeet Bagadia, Executive Director at Choice Broking, believes that the improved sentiment of the Indian stock market is still intact as the Nifty 50 has been sustaining above 25,000 levels after bouncing back from the 50-DEMA support of 24,90...