New Delhi, Aug. 18 -- Indian stock markets ended higher on Monday with the BSE Sensex closing 676 points higher at 81,273.75, while the Nifty50 settled at 24,876.95, up 246 points or one per cent. Earlier in the session, Nifty had briefly crossed the 25,000 mark, touching an intraday high of 25,022.

The Nifty50 was supported by automobile, consumer, and realty stocks, with Maruti Suzuki, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India, and Bajaj Auto making gains. On the other hand, ITC, L&T, Eternal, Tech Mahindra, and NTPC ended in the red. Sectorally, Nifty Auto, Nifty Consumer Durable, and Nifty Realty outperformed, while Nifty IT and Nifty Media closed lower. Broader indices also mirrored the uptrend, with Nifty Midcap and Smallcap 100 c...