The benchmark domestic equity indices today ended in positive territory for the third straight session, led by gains in Oil and Gas, Media and Banking sectors. Both the indices offset mixed global cues, paring intraday losses to register gains during the second half of trade. The 30-share index at the Bombay Stock Exchange, Sensex, rose 309 points to close at 77,044. The National Stock Exchange Nifty-50 advanced 109 points to settle at 23,437. The broader market indices at the BSE outperformed the frontline indices. The Mid-Cap index increased by over 0.6 per cent and the Small-Cap index added over 0.9 per cent.
The BSE Sensex opened 262 points higher at 76,996, but soon erased gains and slipped into red to a low of 76,544 amid weak cues form Asian markets as the US-China trade war intensified. The US President Donald Trump has now threatened China with up to 245 per cent tariff on imports for its retaliatory actions. The Sensex, however, recouped losses and rallied to a high of 77,110 – up 556 points from the day’s low. The BSE benchmark index eventually ended with a gain of 309 points or 0.4 per cent at 77,044. In the process, the Sensex has now rallied 3,197 points in the last three straight trading sessions. Similarly, the NSE Nifty 50 index hit a low at 23,273, and then scaled a high of 23,452. The Nifty ended close to the day’s high at 23,433 – up 104.60 points or 4.5 per cent. The Nifty has jumped by 1,038 points in the last three days. However, equity markets in the neighbouring Asian countries wilted under selling pressure. Hang Seng and Taiwan plunged almost 2 per cent each. Kospi and Nikkei were down over 1 per cent. China’s Shanghai Composite index, however, finished 0.3 per cent higher. Back home, IndusInd Bank was the top gainer among the Sensex 30 shares. The stock surged nearly 7 per cent after PwC, an external agency appointed to validate its internal review of identified discrepancies in its derivatives portfolio submitted its report, pegging the losses at slightly lower. That apart, Axis Bank rallied 4 per cent. Adani Ports, Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, SBI and ITC advanced 1 – 2 per cent each. On the other hand, Maruti slipped 1.5 per cent. Infosys, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro and Sun Pharma were the other notable losers. The broader indices outperformed the benchmark today. The BSE MidCap jumped 0.6 per cent, while the SmallCap spurted by 0.9 per cent. The overall market breadth too was largely in favour of the bulls, with more than 2 advancing shares for every declining stock on the BSE. A total of 347 stocks were locked at the upper circuit, while 134 hit the lower limit on Wednesday.