Closing Bell: Sensex, Nifty50 rise for 8th straight session; Divi's Lab zooms almost 10% on higher exports

Surging for the eighth straight session, the Indian markets ended on a higher note today tracking positive cues from the global markets and supported by heavy buying in pharma, healthcare stocks.

At the market close, the BSE Sensex jumped 235 points or 0.39 per cent to end at 60,392.77 levels; while NSE Nifty50 grew by 90.1 points or 0.51 per cent to settle at 17,812.40 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the broader markets too followed benchmark indices suit as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 each gained between 0.5-0.7 per cent at the market close today.

The 12-share banking index – Nifty Bank too aided the headline index Nifty’s rally as it grew by 0.46 per cent to 41,557.95 levels, led by heavyweights such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

As many as 34 stocks advanced and 16 declined in Nifty50’s basket at the close. Divi’s Lab spurted more than 9.5 per cent to become a top gainer, followed by Adani Enterprises, Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories each up between 2-3 per cent at the close.

On the contrary, Power Grid slipped most by nearly 2 per cent in an otherwise positive market. NTPC, Nestle India, Ultratech Cement and HUL were among the top laggards in Nifty50 at the close today.

Recovery in pharma and IT majors combined with continued buying in auto, financials and metal packs kept the traders busy.

Participants will react to TCS numbers in early trade on Thursday and the performance of other IT majors will also be in focus, Ajit Mishra, VP - Technical Research, Religare Broking said in his note.

He added, “As of now, the rotational buying across index heavyweights is helping the index to inch higher and we feel the prevailing trend to continue with some intermediate consolidation. Traders should align their positions accordingly and maintain focus on overnight risk management.”

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