Nifty logs biggest gain in 5 months, zooms 158 pts

Market benchmark Nifty recorded its biggest gain in nearly five months, surging by 158 points today to end at 8,677.90 on fresh buying on the back of higher global cues.
Finance, banking, auto, IT, metal, media, pharma and realty counters firmed up on good buying.
"Nifty opened on a positive note with a gap up opening of 36 points at 8556 levels, taking cues from global equity markets. Ever since opening trade, Nifty traded higher and higher on back of short covering and fresh long formation," said Digesh Shah, Research Analyst at Veracity Financial Services.
On the sectoral front, it was across the board buying led by financial and private banking indices, which gained 2.75 per cent and 2.31 per cent, respectively.

The NSE 50-share index opened higher at 8,556.05 and hovered in a range of 8,685.10 and 8,555.90 before ending at 8,677.90, showing a gain of 157.50 points or 1.85 per cent after nearly five months.
The Nifty had last gained 186.05 points on May 25, 2016.

A total of 1,216 scrips advanced, 432 declined while 98 closed unchanged. Major gainers were Adani Ports (6.48 per cent), ICICI Bank (4.48 per cent), HDFC (4.09 per cent), Tata Chemicals (4.05 per cent) and Tata Steel (3.44 per cent).
However, Bharti Infratel fell by 1.14 per cent, followed by ONGC (0.70 per cent), Asian Paints (0.66 per cent) and BPCL (0.36 per cent).

Turnover in cash segment rose further to Rs 21,930.94 crore from Rs 20,841.39 crore yesterday.
A total of 10,792.10 lakh shares changed hands in 8,469,924 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 11,106,743 crore.