Indian market extends gain for the 5th straight session, Sensex climbs 486.50 points, Nifty 50 adds 0.75% as Axis Bank and SBI lead

Benchmark indices closed in the positive territory on Thursday. The 30-share BSE SENSEX surged by 0.66% to settle at 74,339, while the NSE NIFTY 50 rose 167 points or 0.75% to close at 22,570.

In the NIFTY50 space, 40 stocks advanced. Axis Bank, SBI, Dr Reddy’s, Nestle, Hero MotorCorp and Adani Enterprises were the major gainers. Laggards included Kotak Mahindra Bank, LTIMindtree, Hindustan Unilever, Titan Company and SBI Life.

In the broader market, the NIFTY Midcap100 added 0.43%, and the NIFTY Smallcap100 index grew 0.84%.

Among the NIFTY sectoral indices, PSU Bank (+3.7%) and Healthcare (1.3%) were the top gainers, while Consumer Durable (-0.43%) and Realty (-0.2%) were the only losers

The Asian markets witnessed a mixed trading session today. Tokyo and Seoul equity markets saw a negative closing, while Hong Kong closed in green.

Shares of ACC Limited ended the session with a 0.65% increase after reporting its fourth-quarter results. The company reported the highest annualised PAT of ₹2,337 crore for FY24, with a YoY increase of 378%.

Index heavyweight ITC Limited closed the day with gains of 2.08% after the company announced the launch of ITC Ratnadipa, a luxury hotel in Colombo.

On the flip side, Kotak Mahindra Bank (-10%) was the top loser as the bank was barred by RBI from issuing new credit cards and adding new customers via online and net banking platform. The central bank cited multiple deficiencies in the IT infrastructure system of the bank.