Closing Bell: Bulls final-hour charge lets Sensex, Nifty end 2-day losing streak; Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors top gainers

Closing Bell: Bulls helped Indian frontline indices S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 to claw back in the green in the final hour of trading. In the process, they ended their two-day losing streak. Nifty traded in 237 point range while Sensex in 730 points. India VIX, a measure of volatility in Nifty ended 1.39 per cent down at 15.18.

Both benchmarks opened in the red and traded in a narrow range for most part of the trading session. Sensex ended at 61,133.88, up 223.60 points or 0.37 per cent while broader market Nifty50 closed at 18,191, up 68 points or 0.38 per cent. Banking gauge Nifty Bank finished 424 points or 0.99 per cent higher at 43,252.35.   

Market breadth improved towards the end as buying activity resumed. The recovery was led by Bharti Airtel and State Bank of India (SBI) shares. In the 50-stock Nifty, 33 advanced. The top gainers were Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors, SBI, Tata Steel and Axis Bank while top losers were Apollo Hospitals, Tata Motors, Titan, Divi's Laboratories and Ultratech Cement Company.

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Out of 15 Nifty sectoral indices, 5 ended in the green. The top gainers were Nifty Metal (+0.67 per cent) banks and selected large cap IT stocks like HCL Tech, Wipro and Infosys. The worst performing indices were Nifty FMCG, Nifty Realty and Nifty Pharma. 

There was stock specific action in broader markets. In the 100-stock Nifty Mid Cap 100, 56 advanced, 42 advanced and 2 remained unchanged. The top gainers were Adani Wilmar, Max Healthcare and Federal Bank while the top losers were Shriram Finance, Page Industries and Ramco Cements. In the 100-stock Small Cap Index, 41 advanced, 57 declined and 2 remained unchanged. The top gainers were Aeigis Logistics, KEC International ad Indiabulls Housing Finance while the top losers were Amara Raja Batteries, Easy Trip and UTI AMC.   

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KFin Technologies stock was listed today at a premium of Re 1 per share on the NSE. The IPO was launched at an issue price of Rs 366 to raise Rs 1500 crore. The stock closed at Rs 364.40 and was down by Rs 1.60. It traded in the green briefly on the intraday basis. The issue was subscribed 2.59 times.