Mumbai, March 16 (IANS) Indian equities bounced back Wednesday, taking cues from the rebound in other Asian markets on bargain buying and a further decline in crude oil prices.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened higher at 18,263.68 points after shedding 272 points on the previous day.

The Sensex sharply moved upward in the morning session on the back of good buying support in realty, power and banking scrips. In the afternoon session, the benchmark index was trading at 18,420.98 points, up 1.39 percent or 253.34 points from the previous close of 18,167.64 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&P CNX Nifty was ruling 1.38 percent or 75.15 points up at 5,524.80 points.

On the broader markets, the BSE midcap was up 1.54 percent and the BSE smallcap was trading 1.56 percent higher.

All the sectoral indices were also in the positive. The BSE realty index was up 2.38 percent and the BSE Bankex and consumer durables indices were also trading with a gain of over two percent.

Other Asian markets also rebounded. The Japanese Nikkei average rebounded 5.68 percent on bargain buying after heavy selling over the past two days amid concerns of a nuclear meltdown following last week's devastating earthquake and tsunami.