Mumbai, Dec 23 (PTI) The BSE Sensex defied gravity for the third session on the trot on Thursday, propelled by robust buying in IT, finance and power stocks amid a rally in global equities.
A strengthening rupee further shored up investor confidence, traders said.
The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 384.72 points or 0.68 per cent to end at 57,315.28. Similarly, the NSE Nifty advanced 117.15 points or 0.69 per cent to 17,072.60.
PowerGrid was the top gainer among the Sensex constituents, rising 3.40 per cent, followed by ITC, Bajaj Finance, Infosys, NTPC, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and SBI.
In contrast, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, Maruti, UltraTech Cement, Asian Paints and ICICI Bank were among the laggards, shedding up to 0.93 per cent.
“Domestic bourses continued to trade firm mirroring an upbeat mood in the global markets led by gains in realty, financials and IT stocks, while broader markets strengthened,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.
“US third quarter GDP expanded at an annualised 2.3 per cent, which is higher than expected. Reports on reduced risk of hospitalisation and severity of Omicron as compared to the Delta variant has supported the upward momentum along with favourable US economic data,” he noted.
Ajit Mishra, VP – Research, Religare Broking, said markets are taking comfort from their global counterparts, but it will be difficult to extend the rebound amid the updates on rising COVID cases.
“Participants should continue with a cautious approach and maintain their focus on stock selection. Apart from IT, we’re seeing select counters from pharma and FMCG also doing well. However, the underperformance of the banking pack remains the key concern,” Mishra added.
Sectorally, BSE realty, oil and gas, power, utilities, IT and FMCG indices climbed as much as 2.21 per cent, while telecom and metal logged losses.
Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices spurted up to 1.01 per cent.
World stocks ticked higher amid reports that the Omicron strain of the coronavirus is less severe than the Delta variant, though rising cases remained a cause for concern.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended with gains.
Stock exchanges in Europe were also trading on a positive note in mid-session deals.
Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude slipped 0.08 per cent to USD 75.22 per barrel.
Rising for the fifth straight session, the rupee jumped 30 paise to close at 75.24 against the US dollar on Thursday.
However, foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 827.26 crore, as per stock exchange data. PTI ANS ABM ABM
