Mumbai, August 18(HS):

Indian equity markets ended on a strong note Monday, powered by upbeat sentiment following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s GST reform announcement from the Red Fort and a positive upgrade to India’s credit rating.

The BSE Sensex surged as much as 1,168 points intraday before trimming gains, finally settling 676.09 points (0.84%) higher at 81,273.75. NSE Nifty advanced 245.65 points (1%) to close at 24,876.95 after touching the psychological 25,000 mark earlier in the session.

Sectoral & Market Action

Outperformers: Automobile, FMCG, Realty, and Metal stocks saw heavy buying. Banking, Capital Goods, Consumer Durables, Healthcare, and Oil & Gas indices also closed in the green.

Laggards: IT, Energy, PSU, and Tech counters stayed under pressure.

Broad Market: BSE MidCap gained 1%, while SmallCap outperformed with a 1.39% jump.

Investor Wealth Gains

The market rally added a whopping ₹6.31 trillion in investor wealth in a single day. BSE-listed companies’ total market capitalization rose to ₹451.09 trillion, up from ₹444.78 trillion in the previous session.

Market Breadth

BSE: 4,365 stocks traded, with 2,562 advancing, 1,627 declining, and 176 unchanged.

NSE: Out of 2,760 active stocks, 1,858 closed higher while 902 ended negative.

Indices: 20 of 30 Sensex stocks advanced; 38 of 50 Nifty stocks finished in the green.

Big Gainers & Losers

Top Gainers:

Maruti Suzuki +8.75%

Hero MotoCorp +5.86%

Bajaj Finance +5.08%

Nestlé India +5.02%

Bajaj Auto +4.57%

Top Losers:

ITC −1.25%

Larsen & Toubro −1.14%

Eternal −1.10%

Tech Mahindra −1.04%

NTPC −0.97%

Market Recap

The Sensex opened firm at 81,315.79 and zoomed to an intraday high of 81,765.77 within the first half hour, backed by aggressive buying. Profit-booking later dragged it down to 81,202.42, before a recovery lifted it back.

Similarly, Nifty opened at 24,938.20, surged to a day’s high of 25,022, dipped near 24,852.85 mid-session, and later bounced to close strong at 24,876.95.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar