Mumbai, India (BBN) – The Sensex ended marginally higher after earlier hitting the day’s high of 29,065.31 due to fresh selling in power, infrastructure, oil & gas and PSU stocks amid firm European cues.
The broader NSE index ended higher, having earlier hit a near two-year high, with IT stocks leading the gains on the day of derivatives expiry, reports The Hindu Business Line.
The NSE index ended up 12.6 points or 0.14 per cent at 8,939.5, its highest close since September 8, 2016. The benchmark BSE index closed 28.26 points or 0.1 per cent up at 28,892.97.
Among BSE sectoral indices, power index fell the most by 0.68 per cent, followed by infrastructure 0.38 per cent, oil & gas and PSU 0.26 per cent each. On the other hand, IT index was up 1.7 per cent, TECk 1.65 per cent, realty 0.78 per cent and consumer durables 0.47 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Wipro (+2.88 per cent), TCS (+2.7 per cent), Bharti Airtel (+1.84 per cent), Infosys (+1.53 per cent) and ITC (+1.02 per cent), while the major losers were Reliance (-1.83 per cent), Adani Ports (-1.35 per cent), Asian Paints (-1.15 per cent), Power Grid (-0.97 per cent) and Maruti (-0.81 per cent).
Infosys gained 1.66 per cent and Tata Consultancy Services rose 2.8 per cent, while Bharti Airtel hit its highest in 18 months after the telecom operator said it would buy Norwegian Telenor’s India unit.
ASIAN SHARES
Asian stocks eased from a 19-month high on Thursday, while the dollar made an uneven recovery from losses suffered after Federal Reserve minutes indicated a cautious approach to raising US interest rates.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down almost 0.1 per cent having jumped to its highest level on Wednesday since July 2015.
BBN/SK/AD