New Delhi, 10 July (H.S.): The domestic stock market closed higher for the second consecutive trading session on Friday. After opening on a strong note, the market witnessed a day-long tug-of-war between buyers and sellers, resulting in fluctuations in both the Sensex and the Nifty. Despite intermittent selling pressure, neither benchmark index experienced any sharp decline. At the close of trading, the Sensex ended 1.08 per cent higher, while the Nifty gained 1.02 per cent.

Most sectoral indices traded in positive territory throughout the session. Realty stocks attracted the strongest buying interest, pushing the Nifty Realty Index up by 3.5 per cent. The Nifty PSU Bank Index also advanced by 3 per cent. Other sectoral indices, including Information Technology, Capital Goods, Automobiles, Consumer Durables, FMCG, Healthcare, Metals, Public Sector Enterprises, and Oil & Gas, also ended the session in the green.

The broader market also remained buoyant, with sustained buying pushing the Nifty Midcap Index up by 1.40 per cent, while the Nifty Smallcap Index closed 1.55 per cent higher.

The market rally added more than ₹6 lakh crore to investors' wealth. The total market capitalisation of companies listed on the BSE rose to a provisional ₹481.75 lakh crore at the close of trade, compared with ₹475.47 lakh crore in the previous session on Thursday. As a result, investors gained approximately ₹6.28 lakh crore during the day's trading.

A total of 4,434 stocks were actively traded on the BSE during the session. Of these, 2,883 advanced, 1,377 declined, while 174 remained unchanged. On the NSE, 2,980 stocks witnessed active trading, with 2,104 closing in positive territory and 876 ending lower. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, 25 stocks closed with gains while five declined. Similarly, 40 of the 50 Nifty stocks ended higher, while 10 closed in the red.

The BSE Sensex opened 653.81 points higher at 77,395.63. Soon after the opening bell, selling pressure pulled the index down to an intraday low of 77,320.56. However, aggressive buying quickly lifted the benchmark, helping it surge as much as 900.41 points to an intraday high of 77,642.23. Profit booking caused intermittent fluctuations throughout the session, but the index eventually settled 827.57 points higher at 77,569.39.

The NSE Nifty opened 161.90 points higher at 24,124.70. Strong buying shortly after the opening further accelerated the index's upward momentum. Although profit booking triggered periodic bouts of selling during the day, the overall trend remained positive.

After 1 p.m., buyers largely dominated trading, enabling the Nifty to climb to an intraday high of 24,228.45, up 265.65 points, shortly before 3 p.m. However, intraday settlement-related selling in the final minutes of trade erased part of the gains, and the index eventually closed 244.10 points higher at 24,206.90.

Among the blue-chip stocks, Jio Financial Services emerged as the top gainer, rising 3.68 per cent. It was followed by HDFC Life Insurance (2.87 per cent), Adani Enterprises (2.39 per cent), SBI Life Insurance (2.26 per cent), and Reliance Industries (2.19 per cent).

On the losing side, Dr. Reddy's Laboratories declined 1.99 per cent, followed by Eternal (0.96 per cent), Bharti Airtel (0.55 per cent), Nestlé India (0.55 per cent), and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (0.17 per cent), making them the top five losers of the day.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar