SENSEX, NIFTY50 gain for second straight session led by ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra

The Indian equity benchmarks rose for a second straight session on Thursday, June 25, but came off intraday highs to end on a flat note as investors booked profits near day's highs ahead of the long weekend.

The SENSEX rose as much as 812 points and NIFTY50 index touched an intraday high of 24,262 but benchmarks gave up most of their intraday gains owing to weakness in Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance and NTPC.

The SENSEX ended 109 points or 0.14% higher at 77,100 and NIFTY50 index advanced 34 points or 0.14% to close at 24,056.

Investor sentiment got a boost from falling crude prices in international markets. Crude oil prices in the global market have lost more than 8% in one week, dropping to near $72 per barrel (bbl) pre-war levels during the session, as investors focused on the optimism of the near-term end to the US-Iran conflict, and reports of an increase in maritime trade via the Strait of Hormuz.

Nine of 15 major sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended higher led by the NIFTY Auto index's 2.25% gain. NIFTY FMCG and Realty indices also rose 0.7% and 0.3% respectively.

On the flip side, IT, metal, pharma, consumer durables and oil & gas shares faced selling pressure.

Broader markets underperformed their larger peers as NIFTY Midcap 100 index declined 0.55% and NIFTY Smallcap 100 index fell 0.47%.

Tata Motors Commercial Vehicle shares rose as much as 5.73% to ₹435 following an optimistic outlook by the company's CEO Girish Wagh.

InterGlobe Aviation was top gainer in the NIFTY50 index, the stock rose nearly 5% to close at ₹5,462 as crude oil prices slipped to pre-war levels.

Mahindra & Mahindra, advanced 4% to settle at ₹3,185.

Maruti Suzuki, Max Healthcare, Tata Consumer Products, Nestle India, Dr Reddy's Labs and Shriram Finance also rose between 1.16% and 3.94%.

On the other hand, ONGC, Hindalco, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, Bharti Airtel, SBI Life and Coal India were top losers in the NIFTY50 index.

The overall market breadth was negative as 2,069 shares ended lower while 1,231 closed higher on the NSE.