Special Saturday Trading Sessions: Nifty reclaims 22,500, Sensex surpasses 74,000 as BSE, NSE conduct special trading session on Saturday

Special Saturday Trading Sessions: Domestic equity benchmarks registered mild gains in two special trading sessions held on Saturday, May 18, led by gains in financial, FMCG and IT shares while losses in metal stocks played spoilsport. The Sensex ended 88.9 points, or 0.1 per cent, higher at 74,005.9 while the Nifty50 settled at 22,502, up 35.9 points, or 0.2 per cent, from its previous close. 

Nestle India, Power Grid, Tata Motors, Adani Ports, Hindalco, ONGC and TCS, closing with gains of between 0.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent, were the top gainers in the Nifty50 basket. On the other hand, JSW Steel, M&M, UltraTech, LTIMindtree and Maruti Suzuki, declining 0.2-1.4 per cent, were the worst hit among the 11 laggards in the pack. 

Top Nifty50 gainers

Nifty losers

Nestle India, L&T, TCS, HDFC Bank, Tata Motors were the biggest contributors to the rise in the main indices. 

Among other stocks, Zydus Lifesciences shares ended locked at a record high of Rs 1,104.5 apiece on BSE, after the drug maker released a strong set of quarterly numbers. 

Similarly, tyre maker Balkrishna Industries' strong financial performance in the final three months of FY24 send its stock soaring to a record high of Rs 2,799 apiece. 

All of NSE's sectoral indices finished in the green, with the Nifty Bank and Nifty IT gauges rising a modest 0.2 per cent each.  

Broader indices Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 finished 0.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent higher, respectively. 

Overall market breadth favoured the bulls, with an advance-decline ratio of 12:5 as 2,440 stocks rose while 1,037 declined on BSE. 

Stock exchanges BSE and NSE conducted the special sessions to check their preparedness to handle major disruption or failure at the primary site, and a consequent switchover to the disaster recovery site.

Catch all the highlights of the May 18 session here. For all other news related to business, politics, tech and auto, visit Zeebiz.com.