Equity benchmarks returned to winning ways on Thursday after two days of declines as investors snapped up financial, pharma and IT stocks amid firm Asian cues. The 30-share BSE Sensex soared 358.83 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 52,300.47. Intra-day, the index swung between a high of 52,346.35 and a low of 51,957.92.
Representational image. PTI
Equity benchmarks returned to winning ways on Thursday after two days of declines as investors snapped up financial, pharma and IT stocks amid firm Asian cues. The 30-share BSE Sensex soared 358.83 points or 0.69 percent to finish at 52,300.47. Intra-day, the index swung between a high of 52,346.35 and a low of 51,957.92.
Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 102.40 points or 0.65 percent to end at 15,737.75. Bajaj Finance topped the Sensex gainers’ chart, rallying 7.29 percent, followed by Bajaj FinServ, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy’s, Tech Mahindra, ITC and Kotak Bank. On the other hand, Bajaj Auto, Maruti, HCL Tech, UltraTech Cement, PowerGrid, ONGC and Nestle suffered losses.
Of the 30 shares in the Sensex pack, 23 ended with gains. “Ahead of US inflation data and European Central Bank policy meeting outcome, Indian equities reflected its Asian counterparts to trade on a positive note. “With faster vaccine coverage and off-loading of fiscal measures, the economic impact of COVID second wave will most likely be restricted to Q1 FY22, as per the monthly report of the Department of Economic Affairs. Gains in the market were broad-based with all major sectors except auto,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities, said bulls were charged up on weekly derivatives expiry day and broader markets saw selective buying in stocks which looked reasonable compared to their expensive larger peers.
“While the Bajaj twins provided the firepower to the index, the small and midcaps put up a stellar show yet again despite apprehensions on higher valuations in select segments,” he added.
Sectorally, BSE realty, healthcare, finance and telecom indices emerged as the top performers, with gains of as much as 3.27 percent.
Broader BSE smallcap and midcap indices rose 1.73 percent and 1.26 percent, respectively. The largecap index followed with 0.73 percent gains. Elsewhere in Asia, stock markets closed with gains ahead of crucial US inflation data for May.
Bourses in Europe were mixed, with investors looking ahead to the ECB policy meeting for further cues. On the forex market front, the Indian rupee lost 9 paise to end at 73.06 against the US dollar on Thursday. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 846.37 crore, as per exchange data.
Daily COVID-19
cases in India remained below the 1 lakh-mark for the third day at 94,052, taking the tally to 2,91,83,121, according to the Union health ministry”s data updated on Thursday. The active cases have reduced to 11,67,952 comprising 4 percent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 94.77 percent.
Top BSE Sensex gainers:
Bajaj Finance: The company was the top gainer of the day with a hike of 7.29 percent and closed at Rs 6,087.60.
Bajaj Finserv: The shares of the company rose 3.75 percent to close at Rs 11,991.60.
SBI: It witnessed a jump of 2.56 percent to settle the day at Rs 432.25.
IndusInd Bank: 2.02 percent increase was observed in the share price of the company which closed at Rs 1,023.65.
Dr Reddy: It jumped 1.32 percent to settle the day at Rs 5,290.65.
Top BSE Sensex Losers:
Bajaj Auto: Shares of the company fell by 0.91 percent to close at Rs 4,184.00.
Maruti: The shares ended at Rs 7199.15 down by 0.56 percent.
HCL Tech: 0.34 percent decline has been noted in the share price which settled at Rs 968.50.
Ultracem Co: A decline of 0.28 percent has been observed in the share which settled at Rs 6,706.00.
PowerGrid: The company ended the day lower at Rs 241.55 after witnessing a fall of 0.19 percent.
Top gainers on NSE Nifty:
Bajaj Finance: 7.67 percent hike has been observed by the company to close at Rs 6,109.80.
Bajaj Finserv: The shares of the company surged 3.82 percent to end at Rs 12,000.00.
SBI: It closed at Rs 432.40 with a jump of 2.60 percent.
Divis Lab: The company gained 2.43 percent to settle the day at Rs 4,371.00.
IndusInd Bank: A jump of 2.15 percent has been witnessed in the shares of the company which closed at Rs 1,025.10.
Top losers on NSE Nifty:
Bajaj Auto: Shares of the company fell by 0.96 percent to close at Rs 4,184.00.
Eicher Motors: The shares ended at Rs 2,709.00 down by 0.73 percent.
UPL: A decline of 0.66 percent has been observed in the share which settled at Rs 839.95.
Adani Ports: 0.50 percent decline has been noted in the share price which settled at Rs 848.30.
Shree Cement: The company ended the day lower at Rs 28,287.95 after witnessing a fall of 0.42 percent.
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