India, July 4 -- Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty ended higher on Friday, extending their winning momentum to the third day running, amid a rally in IT stocks and softer-than-expected US jobs data tempering expectations of near-term monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 261.79 points, or 0.34 per cent, to settle at 77,763.91. During the day, it jumped 655.4 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 78,157.52. The 50-share NSE Nifty went up 95.15 points, or 0.39 per cent, to end at 24,270.85. From the Sensex pack, HCL Tech surged 5.79 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, which climbed 1.81 per cent. Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finserv, UltraTech Cement, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Ser...