Sensex and Nifty ended sharply higher on Thursday led by strong buying in banking, pharma, metal and infrastructure stocks, while IT shares remained under pressure throughout the session. At close, the Sensex rose 789.74 points or 1.06 percent to settle at 75,398.72, while the Nifty gained 277 points or 1.18 percent to close at 23,689.60. Market breadth remained mixed despite the sharp rally in benchmark indices, with 2,019 shares advancing against 1,988 declines. Nifty Pharma jumped 2.74 percent and Nifty Metal gained over 2 percent, while banking indices also traded firmly higher. In contrast, Nifty IT fell nearly 2 percent, with Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech and TCS among the top Nifty losers. Midcaps outperformed benchmark indices, while smallcaps ended largely flat.