New Delhi, 17 March (H.S.): India's domestic stock market closed with gains for the second consecutive day today. Trading opened positively, and despite intraday volatility from buying and selling pressures in the morning session, both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks ended higher. Buyers gained momentum shortly before noon, propelling the indices to impressive recoveries.
The Sensex closed up 0.75% at 76,070.84, while the Nifty settled 0.74% higher at 23,581.15.Throughout the session, robust buying was seen in automobile, infrastructure, media, and realty sectors.
Banking, capital goods, consumer durables, pharmaceuticals, oil & gas, public sector enterprises, and tech indices also closed firmly higher. In contrast, FMCG and IT stocks faced selling pressure. Broader markets shone, with the Nifty Midcap index rising 1.02% and Smallcap up 0.65%.
The rally boosted investor wealth by nearly ₹2.78 lakh crore. BSE-listed companies' market capitalization climbed to ₹433.35 lakh crore (provisional), from ₹430.57 lakh crore the previous day.
Trading Snapshot
BSE: 4,411 active stocks – 2,364 advanced, 1,892 declined, 155 unchanged.
NSE: 2,972 active – 1,770 gained, 1,202 fell.
Sensex (30 stocks): 20 up, 10 down.
Nifty (50 stocks): 36 up, 14 down.
Intraday Movements
The Sensex opened at 75,826.68, up 323.83 points, but shed nearly 500 points within 15 minutes to 75,324.73 amid early selling. Volatility persisted until buyers dominated post-noon, pushing it to an intraday high of 76,304.26 (up 979.53 points from lows). Profit-booking in the final half-hour trimmed gains to close at 76,070.84 (up 567.99 points).
Similarly, Nifty opened at 23,493.20 (up 84.40 points) but dropped over 145 points to 23,346.60. It recovered sharply to 23,656.80 (up 310.20 points from lows) before settling at 23,581.15 (up 172.35 points) due to late selling.
Top Gainers and Losers
Top Gainers: Eternal (5.67%), Tata Steel (4.54%), Mahindra & Mahindra (3.06%), HDFC Life (2.60%), Bharat Electronics (2.29%).
Top Losers: Wipro (1.94%), Cipla (1.39%), Infosys (1.35%), Tata Consumer Products (1.35%), ITC (1.10%).
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
