Nifty gains 74 pts on firm global cues

Benchmark Nifty rose by 74.50 points to end at 10,692.30 today on firm global cues amid strong buying in banking, energy, media and pharma sectors.

Continuous buying by domestic institutional investors boosted sentiment. All sectoral indices managed to end in the green, barring IT, which witnessed profit booking on the back of a weak rupee.

Overseas, markets in Europe and Asia rose after US equities were buoyed by solid earnings and a rebound in technology stocks as US bond yields pulled back.

The 50-share NSE Nifty ended at 10,692.30, up 74.50 points, or 0.70 per cent -- its highest closing level since February 2, 2018. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,719.80 and 10,647.55.

On the sectoral front, PSU Bank rose by 3.80 per cent, followed by Private Bank 1.65 per cent, Energy 1.49 per cent, Bank 1.53 per cent, Finance Service 1.28 per cent, Pharma 1.02 per cent, Media 1 per cent, Infra 0.89 per cent, Metal 0.71 per cent, Auto 0.41 per cent, Realty 0.35 per cent and FMCG 0.32 per cent. IT fell by 1.65 per cent.

Major index gainers were Axis Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, HPCL, Larsen, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto and Reliance.

Losers included HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, TCS, Maruti, Wipro, Coal India, Hero MotoCo, Yes Bank, HUL and NTPC.

A total of 981 scrips advanced, 815 declined, while 82 remained unchanged. Total securities that hit their price bands were 210.

Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 34,482.39 crore, from Rs 41,585.85 crore yesterday.

A total of 13,280.39 lakh shares changed hands in 1,07,76,526 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on the NSE stood at Rs 1,49,94,225.46 crore.