Indian equity benchmarks settled higher in see-saw trade on Thursday, halting their losing run of four straight sessions. The domestic indices turned positive, led by gains in energy, pharma and technology stocks. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries also supported the surprise upward move.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 428 points or 0.78 per cent to close at 55,320 today, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 122 points or 0.74 per cent up to settle at 16,478.
Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 jumped 0.49 per cent lower and small-cap climbed 0.21 per cent.
13 out of the 15 sector gauges — compiled by the National Stock Exchange — settled in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Oil & gas, Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT outperformed the platform by rising as much as 1.96 per cent, 1.20 per cent and 0.98 per cent, respectively.
On the stock-specific front, Dr Reddy’s was the top Nifty gainer as the stock soared 3 per cent to ₹ 4,324.95. BPCL, Reliance Industries, Eicher Motors and Bajaj Auto were also among the gainers.
The overall market breadth stood positive as 1,750 shares advanced while 1,550 declined on BSE.
On the 30-share BSE index, Reliance, Dr Reddy’s, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Wipro, ITC, Infosys, HDFC Bank, TCS and IndusInd Bank were among the top gainers.
In contrast, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Bajaj Finserv and M&M finished in the red.
Earlier, shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country’s biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor, plunged to a new intraday low of ₹ 720.05. The stock finally settled 2.17 per cent lower at ₹ 721.95.
Crude Oil prices traded lower with benchmark NYMEX WTI crude oil fell by 0.2 percent to $121.89 per barrel.
“Crude oil prices gave up early gains on Thursday after parts of Shanghai imposed new COVID-19 lockdown measures, outweighing news of China’s stronger-than-expected exports in May. Crude oil prices are still holding grounds above $120 per barrel on strong fundamentals. US gasoline stockpiles dropped by 812,000 barrels to 218.18 million barrels last week, indicating fuel demand resilience during peak summer despite soaring prices. China trade data showed that the exports of the world’s largest oil importer grew at a double-digit pace in May,” said experts.
Infosys announced a global strategic collaboration with TK Elevator, one of the world’s leading elevator companies based out of Düsseldorf, Germany. The global seven-year collaboration is an extension of the successful modernization of TK Elevator’s IT infrastructure in Europe and Africa.
Infosys said it would consolidate and harmonize the global service desk and workplace operations.
