After hitting fresh highs for five consecutive days, Indian equity benchmarks took a breather in Thursday’s session amid mixed global cues. Nifty in the mid-day trade was up by 0.4 per cent at 23,609.7, while Sensex traded with gains of 0.36 per cent at 77,617.86. Meanwhile, broader markets after a day’s break are again seeing buying action, with Nifty Midcap 100 index up 0.73 per cent at the last count, while Nifty Smallcap 100 index traded with gains of over 0.6 per cent led by buying spree in textile, packaging, metal, fertiliser and agrochemical stocks.

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Bank Nifty also continued to trade higher after hitting a record high in the previous session of 51,957.

Within the Nifty 50 pack, Hindalco, JSW Steel, Shriram Finance, Coal India and RIL are among the top gainers, while laggards included stocks like M&M, Sun Pharma, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finserv and Power Grid Corporation.

Sectorally, in a mixed session, pharma, IT, PSU Banks and auto pack traded in the red, with the auto space leading the losses with a cut of nearly 0.7 per cent. Nonetheless, metals, oil & gas, private banking stocks traded with gains of up to 2 per cent. 

According to Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research) at Mehta Equities, positive catalysts supporting the Indian markets include softer-than-expected US Retail Sales, increasing bets on a US soft landing, and FIIs being net buyers of Rs. 10,478 crore this week.

"The current distinct trend in the market is the sectoral churn happening somewhat strongly. Huge money is flowing into fairly valued largecaps in banking and profit booking is happening in sectors like capital goods, telecom, metals and FMCG. This churn is likely to continue in the near-term since it is a healthy trend. The overvalued broader market space also is taking a breather,” said  Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Shares of PNB Housing Finance amid a block deal in the counter in early trade were trading 5 per cent lower at Rs 799.6. 

Rategain Travel shares traded higher by nearly 5 per cent as nearly 21.6 lakh shares changed hands in the block deal window today.

Tata Communications shares traded with nearly 3 per cent gains at Rs 1,879 after the company secured a 5-year $250 million sustainability linked loan (SLL).

Meanwhile, European markets traded mixed, with both German DAX and French CAC indices trading lower by up to 0.8 per cent, while FTSE traded with minor gains ahead of the slew of global central bank policy decisions.