New Delhi, 31 July (H.S.): After witnessing volatility throughout the trading session, the domestic stock market closed on a positive note for the third consecutive day on Friday. The market opened almost flat with marginal gains, but soon slipped into the red due to selling pressure in both the Nifty and Sensex indices. However, buying interest from investors helped the indices recover and move back into positive territory.

The buying momentum continued until shortly after 1 pm, following which profit booking triggered fresh selling pressure, causing both benchmark indices to retreat slightly from their day's highs. At the end of the session, the BSE Sensex gained 0.21 per cent, while the Nifty closed 0.27 per cent higher.

The BSE Sensex opened at 77,998.66 points, gaining 70.51 points or 0.09 per cent. Shortly after the opening, selling pressure dragged the index down by 118.22 points or 0.15 per cent to 77,809.93 points. However, strong buying support helped the index recover and gain momentum.

Supported by continuous buying, the Sensex rose nearly 462.32 points from the day's low shortly after 1 pm to touch 78,272.25 points, marking a gain of 344.10 points or 0.44 per cent. Later, profit booking led to some decline, and the index slipped 177.61 points from the day's high before finally closing at 78,094.64 points, up by 166.49 points.

Similarly, the NSE Nifty opened at 24,361.45 points, gaining 44.30 points or 0.18 per cent. Soon after the market opened, selling pressure pulled the index down by more than 60 points from the opening level, taking it to 24,299.70 points, a decline of 17.45 points or 0.07 per cent.

Buying activity later improved the Nifty's movement, and shortly after 1 pm, the index surged nearly 130 points from the day's low to reach 24,429.40 points, gaining 112.25 points or 0.46 per cent. However, renewed selling due to profit booking pushed the index lower from its peak, and it finally settled at 24,383.60 points, up by 66.45 points.

During Friday's trading session, media sector stocks witnessed strong buying interest, helping the Nifty Media Index rise by 2 per cent. Automobile, oil and gas, and energy sector stocks also attracted significant buying. The Nifty Auto Index gained 1.64 per cent, the Oil and Gas Index rose 1.01 per cent, and the Energy Index advanced 1 per cent.

Apart from these, banking, capital goods, healthcare, metal, and public sector enterprise indices also closed in positive territory.

On the other hand, information technology stocks witnessed heavy selling pressure. The Nifty IT Index declined 1.56 per cent, while the BSE Technology Index fell 0.73 per cent. FMCG and consumer durable indices also ended lower. In the broader market, buying remained strong, with both the Nifty Midcap and Smallcap indices closing 0.44 per cent higher.

The market rally increased investors' wealth by more than Rs 1.30 lakh crore during the day. The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies rose to Rs 485.88 lakh crore (provisional) after Friday's trade, compared with Rs 484.57 lakh crore on the previous trading day. This resulted in a gain of nearly Rs 1.31 lakh crore for investors.

A total of 2,989 shares were actively traded on the NSE during the session. Of these, 1,842 shares ended with gains, while 1,147 shares closed in the red. Among the 30 Sensex constituents, 16 stocks gained and 14 declined. In the Nifty 50 index, 29 stocks ended higher, while 21 closed lower.

Among major stocks, Bajaj Finance gained 8.32 per cent, Bajaj Finserv rose 6.27 per cent, Jio Financial Services advanced 3.85 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra climbed 3.50 per cent, and Adani Ports increased 1.95 per cent, making them the top five gainers of the day.

On the losing side, TCS declined 2.72 per cent, Eternal fell 2.64 per cent, Max Healthcare dropped 2.34 per cent, Infosys slipped 2.16 per cent, and Wipro declined 1.44 per cent, emerging among the top five losers.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar