Mumbai (India): The Indian equities markets closed in the positive for the third straight day with benchmark Sensex gaining 157 points in volatile trading on Thursday. The broader Nifty 50 gained 47 points. Strong buying support in heavyweights like ITC, Reliance Industries, and Larsen & Toubro led the rally at the market. ITC jumped 4.60 per cent to Rs.235.30 after the company announced that it would hold its ‘Institutional Investors and Financial Analysts Day’ on December 14. Larsen & Toubro soared 3.06 per cent to Rs.1879.70. After two successive sessions of strong rally, the market witnessed volatile trading. The 30-stock S&P BSE Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened 181 points higher at 58,831.41 points and touched a high of 58,890 points in the early trade. However, the profit booking dragged Sensex down 549 points from the day’s high. The Sensex ended the day at 58,807.13 points, 0.27 per cent or 157.45 points higher than the previous day’s close of 58,649.68 points. The benchmark index touched a high of 58,889.96 points and a low of 58,340.85 points in the intra-day. This is the third straight day of smart gains in the benchmark index. The Sensex had gained 1016 points and 886 points respectively in the last two sessions. The broader Nifty 50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 47.10 points or 0.27 per cent higher at 17,516.85 points after witnessing volatile trading. The Nifty 50 touched a high of 17,543.25 points and low of 17,379.60 points in the intra-day. Half of the 30 indices that are part of the Sensex closed in the positive while the other half ended the day in the red. Major gainers included ITC 4.60 per cent higher at Rs.235.30; Larsen & Toubro 3.06 per cent higher at Rs.1879.70; Asian Paints 2.23 per cent higher at Rs.3178.60; Reliance Industries 1.59 per cent higher at Rs.2455.85; Mahindra & Mahindra 1.24 per cent higher at Rs.851.05 and Bajaj Finance 1.03 per cent higher at Rs.7439.35. Half of the Sensex stocks closed in the red. HDFC Bank slumped 1.67 per cent to Rs.1527.50; Titan fell 1.32 per cent to Rs.2373.45. Other major Sensex losers include Nestle India 0.99 per cent lower at Rs.19283; NTPC 0.94 per cent lower at Rs.126.10; Power Grid 0.83 per cent lower at Rs.203.15 and TCS 0.63 per cent lower at Rs.3603.60.
