Mumbai: NSE benchmark Nifty witnessed a rally towards the fag-end, closing with 61 points gain following strong buying mainly in metal, PSU bank, infra and pharma. Positive cues from global markets also boosted investor sentiments.
Overseas, European markets were trading higher as investors reacted to robust economic data. Asian shares too ended with gains as solid economic data from China reinforced investors’ optimism while oil prices continued their upward momentum with unrest in Iran stoking supply disruption concerns.
The NSE Nifty opened higher at 10,469.40 and moved in a range of 10,513 and 10,441.45 before finishing at 10,504.80, up 61.60 points, or 0.59 per cent, from its previous close. It saw an intra-day movement of about 71.55 points.
On the sectoral front, metal surged by 2.79 per cent, PSU bank 2.69 per cent, infra 1.25 per cent, pharma 1.20 per cent, energy 0.63 per cent, bank 0.57 per cent, finance service 0.41 per cent and media 0.35 per cent.
However, auto and realty fell by 0.20 per cent and 0.19 per cent, respectively. Major index gainers were Tata Steel, Larsen, ONGC, Dr Reddy, AsianPaint, Vedl, Sunpharma and Baj Finance. Losers included Tata Motors, Eicher Motors, BPCL, Infosys, Power Grid, HCL Tech, Bosch and Maruti.
The market breadth, indicating its overall health, was in favour of gainers. On the NSE, 1,158 stocks rose, 641 fell and 43 remained unchanged. Total securities that hit their price bands were 220.
Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 36,892.63 crore from Rs 33,291.76 crore as on Wednesday. A total of 26,283.76 lakh shares changed hands in 12,428,791 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on the NSE stood at Rs 1,50,60,958.35 crore.
PTI