New Delhi: Benchmark indices bounced back on Wednesday after two days of decline with the Sensex climbing 324.61 points in early trade amid positive trends in Asian markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex opened on a positive note and advanced 324.61 points to 54,211.22. The broader NSE Nifty climbed 81.3 points to 16,139.60.

Among the Sensex constituents, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finance were the major gainers.

HCL Technologies, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank were the laggards.

"The major positive development from India's economic and market perspective is the crash in Brent crude to below USD 100. The bulls are likely to latch on to this good news. But FIIs again turning sellers will be a dampener," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Meanwhile, in Asia, markets in Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong were trading in the green.

The US markets had ended lower on Tuesday.

Retail inflation eased slightly to 7.01 percent in June but was above the central bank's tolerance band for the sixth month in a row, signalling more interest rate hikes in future.

In May, retail inflation was 7.04 per cent, government data released on Tuesday showed.

The BSE Sensex fell 508.62 points or 0.94 per cent to end at 53,886.61 on Tuesday. The Nifty declined 157.70 points or 0.97 percent to settle at 16,058.30.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.27 per cent to USD 99.75 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,565.68 crore, as per exchange data.

(With PTI inputs)

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