Markets remain bullish for 5th straight day amid buying in energy, finance & IT stocks

MUMBAI: Market benchmarks marched higher for the fifth straight session on Thursday as investors accumulated energy, financial and IT stocks amid a mixed trend in global equities.

Clawing back lost ground in early deals, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 284.42 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 55,681.95. During the day, it jumped 340.96 points or 0.61 per cent to 55,738.49.

Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty went higher by 84.40 points or 0.51 per cent to 16,605.25.

IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising 7.88 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Asian Paints, Tech Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro, Axis Bank and Power Grid.

Shares of IndusInd Bank climbed 7.88 per cent after the company reported a 60.5 per cent jump in net profit for the quarter ended June.

On the other hand, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Kotak Bank and Dr Reddy’s were the losers, sliding up to 1.89 per cent.

The five-day rally in the equity market has made investors richer by over Rs 9.76 lakh crore as the benchmark BSE Sensex jumped 2,265.8 points during this period.

Driven by the continued optimism in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms jumped Rs 9,76,749.78 crore to Rs 2,60,42,730.43 crore in five days.

Almost all the sectoral indices were in the green, led by Telecom (2.16 per cent), Capital Goods (2.08), Industrials (1.45 per cent) and Oil and Gas (1.32 per cent). Healthcare was the only sectoral index that ended in the red.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge jumped 1.24 per cent and smallcap index climbed 0.90 per cent.