Sensex, Nifty close higher amid volatility
Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed with gains on Thursday in a highly volatile trade amid the scheduled monthly expiry of derivative contracts.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rebounded 195.42 points or 0.27% to settle at 72,500.30. During the day, the benchmark oscillated between a high of 72,730.00 and a low of 72,099.32.
The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange gained 31.65 points or 0.14% to close at 21,982.80.
“Domestic benchmark traded near a flat-line trend throughout the session, but some buoyancy emerged by the end of the day. Investors adopted a cautious wait and watch approach on the verge of a heavy economic data week,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.
Among Sensex shares, IndusInd Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Tech, Power Grid, Maruti, State Bank of India, Titan, Asian Paints, Nestle and UltraTech Cement were the major gainers.
Reliance Industries climbed nearly 2% intra-day before closing more than half-a per cent higher after the company and Walt Disney announced the signing of binding pacts to merge their media operations in India to create a ₹70,000 crore behemoth.
Hindustan Unilever, Bharti
Airtel, Tata Motors, ITC, Tech Mahindra and Axis Bank were among the laggards.
“Markets traded volatile on the monthly expiry day but managed to end marginally higher,” said Ajit Mishra, senior vice-president, technical research, Religare Broking.
In the broader market, the BSE mid-cap gauge climbed 0.84% and small-cap index went up by 0.50%. Among the indices, services jumped 1.46%, power climbed 1.01%, commodities (0.79%), industrials (0.74%), metal (0.74%) and capital goods (0.65%).
In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled lower while Shanghai ended in the green.
European markets were trading mostly in the green. The US markets ended marginally lower on Wednesday.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth ₹1,879.23 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data, while the BSE benchmark fell by 790.34 points or 1.08% to settle at 72,304.88.