Indian equity benchmarks ended higher on August 3, with the Nifty above 24,700 mark intraday, driven by broad-based buying across sectors, except pharma and media. At close, the Sensex was up 544.39 points or 0.70 percent at 78,639.03, and the Nifty was up 390.70 points or 1.60 percent at 24,774.30. About 2705 shares advanced, 1496 shares declined, and 185 shares unchanged.