Indian equities staged a broad-based rebound on Friday, ending a three-day slide as the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 1,046.30 points to 82,408.17 and the NSE Nifty 50 advanced 319.15 points to 25,112.40. All 13 sectoral gauges on the National Stock Exchange closed higher, with financials, autos and metals leading gains. The rally followed the Reserve Bank of India’s decision to ease provisioning norms for under-construction infrastructure projects, cutting required buffers to about 1-1.25% from a draft proposal of 5%. The change is expected to free up capital at banks and non-bank lenders, spurring credit growth and lifting shares of Power Finance Corporation, REC, Jio Financial and major lenders such as HDFC Bank and State Bank of India. Investor sentiment also benefited from a 2% slide in Brent crude to roughly $76.9 a barrel, renewed foreign portfolio inflows of about Rs 1,824 crore over the past two sessions and a 4-6% drop in the India VIX, indicating lower near-term volatility expectations. Analysts said the Nifty’s close above its 21-day moving average restores a ‘buy-on-dips’ bias as long as the index holds 24,850, with upside targets between 25,600 and 25,800. They cautioned, however, that recent pressure in mid- and small-cap counters and persistent geopolitical risks could keep trading choppy.