Mumbai, India (BBN) – The Sensex and Nifty ended higher by nearly 0.6 per cent due to heavy buying in healthcare, realty, IT and metal stocks amid firm global cues.
The benchmark BSE index closed 145.71 points or 0.52 per cent up at 28,301.27. The broader NSE index rose 53.3 points or 0.61 per cent to 8,778, reports The Hindu Business Line.
Barring FMCG, all other BSE sectoral indices ended in the green. Among them, healthcare index gained the most by 2.46 per cent, followed by realty 2.14 per cent, IT 2.04 per cent and metal 2.00 per cent, while FMCG index was down 0.92 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Sun Pharma (+4.31 per cent), Infosys (+3.01 per cent), Maruti (+2.84 per cent), Tata Motors (+2.14 per cent) and Tata Steel (+2.11 per cent), while the major losers were ITC (-2.45 per cent), Asian Paints (-1.18 per cent), Adani Ports (-0.75 per cent), ICICI Bank (-0.66 per cent) and L&T (-0.66 per cent).
IT stocks led the gains after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd said its board would consider a share buyback plan at a meeting next week.
Shares of TCS, the country’s biggest software services exporter, rose as much as 2.7 per cent to their highest since September 7, 2016, heading for their 10th session of gains in 12 this month.
“It (the share buyback news) will set a floor for the stock in the near term… May improve sentiment for other IT stocks but will be a short-term impact,” said Dipen Shah, senior vice president and head of private client group research, Kotak Securities.
The Nifty IT index rose as much as 1.6 per cent to a more than five-month high.
Among other leading gainers, State Bank of India climbed as much as 3 per cent after the federal cabinet had on Wednesday approved its planned merger with five subsidiary banks.
ASIAN MARKETS
Asian stocks edged to new 19-month highs on Thursday with gains underpinned by an ongoing rally on Wall Street, while the dollar came in for a bout of profit-taking after its recent bounce.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.2 per cent to its highest since July 2015.
It is up by a tenth this year thanks to more optimistic earnings expectations and an unwinding of bearish emerging market bets.
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