Mumbai/Delhi : In a volatile market on Thursday, the benchmark indices extended gains for the third straight day with BSE Sensex closing 228 points higher at 72050 and the NSE Nifty climbing 71 points to end at 21,911.
About 2,267 shares advanced, 1458 declined and 80 were unchanged.
M&M gained the most among the large caps — almost 7 per cent — after touching a new high on robust Q3 results. Its net profit rose 61 per cent YoY to Rs 2,454 crore.
Among the top gainers were Energy and oil & gas sector large caps NTPC, Power Grid, BPCL and ONGC, registering an increase of 3 to 5 per cent. Among the banks, SBI and HDFC rose 2 per cent each.
Among the laggards were ITC, Nestle, HUL, Britannia, Axis Bank, Reliance, Apollo Hospitals and Sun Pharma as they closed 0.7 per cent to 2 per cent lower.
BSE MidCap and Smallcap gained nearly 1 per cent each.
In the Nifty pack, PSU banks led the sectoral gains by closing 3 per cent higher. Among the notable gainers were Nifty FMCG and Pharma.
Among the stocks, MRPL was the top BSE gainer, ending frozen at 20 per cent higher. Zee Entertainment fell 6 per cent after media reports that Reliance Industries is in talks to buy Disney’s 30 per cent stake in Tata Play.
Meanwhile, the Rupee gained 3 paise to 82.99 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday amidst a positive trend in the domestic equities. The strong American currency and elevated crude oil prices restricted the rupee to go up further.
In another development, the prices of yellow metal fell narrowly but the prices of silver went up.
Gold futures, maturing on April 5, 2024, stood at 61,364 per ten grams on the MCX, after recording a marginal fall of Rs 79 or 0.13 per cent. The previous close was 61,443.
However, silver futures, maturing on March 5, 2024, registered a hike of Rs 73 or 0.10 per cent and were retailing at Rs 70,225 per kg on the MCX as against the previous close of Rs 70,152.
