The equity markets continued their winning streak for the third day in a row on Thursday after some profit taking in initial deals. Investors are approaching optimistically as fears over the Omicron variant has receded, and the overall structure tends to remain broadly positive, said analysts.
The Sensex ended higher by 157.45 points, or 0.27%, to 58,807.13 while the Nifty closed at 17,516.85, up 47.10 points or 0.27%. ITC was the top performer in the Sensex pack, surging 4.6%, followed by Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints, RIL, M&M and Bajaj Finance. On the other hand, HDFC Bank, Titan Company, Nestle and NTPC were among the top index losers.
Shrikant Chouhan, head – equity research (retail), Kotak Securities, said: “Despite witnessing a choppy trading session, the markets maintained their positive momentum as investors put money in the beaten-down stocks. After the post morning sell-off, the Nifty took the support near 17,400 and reversed sharply to hover in the 17,425-17,535 levels.”
Barring Nifty Bank, financials and realty, all other sectors ended in the green as investors bought the dips in
the market. The broader BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices added 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively. The fear gauge, India VIX, continued to slide, falling 3.8%. The overall advance/ decline ratio remained broadly positive as 2,111 scrips advanced, 1,165 declined, and 122 remained unchanged on the BSE.