Sensex and Nifty, the two key domestic benchmarks, on Thursday rebounded sharply in the second half of the trading day, led by gains in select banks and metal shares. The two domestic indices slipped into red tracking weak global cues.
The S&P BSE Sensex closed day’s trade at 61,134, up 224 points while the broader NSE Nifty50 ended at 18,191, up 68 points.
On the 30-share Sensex platform, Bharti Airtel, SBI, Tata Steel, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, and others were the prominent gainers, while on the flip side, Tata Motors, Titan, UltraCemco, HUL, Bajaj Finserv, L&T, and others were the major laggards.
In the broader markets, a mixed note can be seen. The BSE Midcap index was down 0.1 per cent, while the Smallcap index added 0.3 per cent.
The overall market breadth was marginally positive, with nearly 1,900 shares advancing versus nearly 1,600 declining stocks on the BSE.
Among individual stocks, shares of McLeod Russel surged over 3 per cent as it is in the process of negotiating with “multiple investors” to monetise assets and infuse fresh capital. Besides, shares of Ashok Leyland gained over 2 per cent after the compay bagged projects worth Rs 754.57 crore.
Among sectors, bank, metal, and oil & gas indices rose 1 per cent each, while Nifty Auto, Nifty Realty, and Nifty Media indices declining up to 1 per cent.
In the previous session on Wednesday, the S&P BSE Sensex ended on a flat note at 60,910, down 17 points. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 eventually settled 10 points lower at 18,122.
Meanwhile, the rupee consolidated in a narrow range and settled 2 paise lower at 82.82 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday. Traders said the domestic unit traded in a narrow range amid softening crude oil prices and weak dollar.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened weak at 82.77 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 82.76 and a low of 82.86. It finally ended at 82.82 against the American currency, registering a fall of 2 paise over its previous close of 82.80.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, declined 1.71 per cent to $81.84 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 872.59 crore, according to exchange data.