BENGALURU, Jan 4 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes rose on Thursday after easing from near record highs in the past two sessions, aided by a rebound in financials, while realty extended gains on robust sales volumes.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index climbed 0.54% to 21,631.85 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.58% to 71,770.60, as of 10:29 a.m. IST.

"The consolidation over the last two sessions is healthy after the sharp rally. Besides, investors want to keep some cash in the portfolio ahead of quarterly earnings," said Deven Choksey, managing director of DR Choksey Finserv.

High weightage financials rose 0.85%, after shedding 1.29% over the last four sessions.

Bajaj Finance advanced 4% and was among the top Nifty 50 gainers. The non-bank lender reported a 26% year-on-year increase in new loans and a 35% jump in assets under management in December quarter, according to a business

update

.

Realty stocks surged about 5.5% to a new record high.

Indian realty developers posted record-high sales and residential unit launches in the second half of 2023, aided by strong demand, Knight Frank Research

said

. The property consultant expects increased sales in 2024, with likely decline in inflation and interest rates.

The rebound in Indian shares is in contrast to Asian peers, which fell following the overnight decline in Wall Street equities. The comes after the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting minutes provided no clear-cut clues on the timing of a potential rate cut.

Among individual stocks, Torrent Power

jumped

about 9% after announcing 474 billion rupees ($5.69 billion) of investments in solar power projects, green hydrogen and ammonia manufacturing plants in Gujarat.

NTPC gained 4% following a Reuters

report

of a 900 billion rupees investment proposal to create 15 gigawatt renewable energy parks in Gujarat.

($1 = 83.3030 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Sonia Cheema and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)