New Delhi, Jun 2 (IANS): Snapping two straight sessions of losses, domestic equity benchmark indices settled in the green on Thursday.

Gains were led by upmove in Nifty oil & gas, IT, metal, and media stocks. Also, a decline in global crude oil prices ahead of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meeting also somewhat gave fuel to the market sentiments.

Among the Nifty 50 stocks, Reliance Industries was the top gainer, rising 3.6 per cent from the previous close.

On Thursday, sensex closed at 55,818 points, up 437 points or 0.8 per cent, whereas Nifty closed at 16,628 points, up 105 points or 0.6 per cent.

"Nifty is expected to remain in a range while Bank Nifty may outperform. Traders are advised to apply a buy on decline strategy at the support zones. At current juncture, we are advising to be with selective stocks and one can look for buying opportunity in stocks like Reliance, Bajaj Finance, Voltas and HAL," said Chandan Taparia, Vice President, Equity Derivatives and Technical, Broking & Distribution at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services: "The bounce in the market is showing signs of getting extended further supported by a mid and small-cap. High-frequency data like GST collection and PMI have shown a good start to FY23."

Crude prices have declined providing an edge to the performance of the Indian market, said Nair, adding that, however, a lot will depend on the central bank's policy in India and the US, which will be announced in the next two weeks.