Mumbai, May 6 (IANS): The Indian equity indices ended the two-day losing streak, amid a largely volatile trade on Wednesday, supported by healthy buying in finance, banking and auto stocks.

The S&P BSE Finance index rose by 2.46 per cent and the Banking index ended higher by 1.99 per cent. The BSE Auto index closed 1.78 per cent higher on Wednesday.

The Sensex closed at 31,685.75, higher by 232.24 or 0.74 per cent from the previous close of 31,453.51. It had opened at 31,577.63 and touched an intra-day high of 31,970.84 and a low of 31,158.75 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange ended at 9,270.90, higher by 65.30 points or 0.71 per cent from the previous close.

Analysts said that recovery in crude oil prices also supported the investor sentiments. Brent crude oil is currently trading over $30 per barrel.

Rahul Sharma, Head of Research at Equity99 Advisors, said: "We witnessed a pull-back rally on the markets supported by rising crude prices and a firm trend in most Asian markets. Today, the traders were seen bargain hunting in select index heavyweight stocks ahead of corporate earnings."

He noted that benchmark indices will continue to remain range-bound as investors will continue to remain wary about economic uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, weak corporate earnings and macroeconomics data.

The IHS Markit India Services Business Activity Index released on Wednesday showed a reading of 5.4 in April, which is an extreme decline from 49.3 in March, and indicative of the most severe contraction in services output since the records began in December 2005.

The slump in the services sector output comes amid the nationwide lockdown.