Sensex, Nifty end marginally higher in volatile trade; Bharti Airtel gains

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty managed to end in positive territory after fighting bouts of volatility on Thursday as investors followed risk-off mode in global markets.

After a volatile trade, the 30-share Sensex ended 54.81 points or 0.09 per cent higher at 58,305.07 -- its all-time closing high. The NSE Nifty rose 15.75 points or 0.09 per cent to settle at 17,369.25.

On the Sensex chart, Bharti Airtel was the top gainer, followed by Nestle India, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech and ITC.

On the other hand, Titan, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Auto, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank were among the laggards.

Of the Sensex constituents, 18 shares logged gains and 12 suffered losses.

During the holiday-truncated week, the Sensex rose 175.12 points or 0.30 per cent, while the Nifty advanced 45.65 points or 0.26 per cent.

Sectorally, telecom, power, utilities, capital goods and metal indices rose up to 2.40 per cent.

On the other hand, realty, consumer durables, bankex and finance ended in the red.

 

Broader midcap and smallcap indices rose up to 0.56 per cent.

Domestic markets were highly volatile tracking negative cues from global markets amidst selling seen in realty and pharma stocks. However, mid and small-cap stocks continued to attract buyers leading to its outperformance, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Regulatory crackdown in China, global concerns over the looming reduction in asset purchases ahead of the European Central Bank meeting and slowdown in economic recovery pulled global markets lower, he added.

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, "There is slight risk-off mode in global markets during the last few days and this has impacted the bullish sentiments in India too."

Domestic stock market will remain closed on Friday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi'.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul ended with losses, while Shanghai was positive.

Equities in Europe were trading on a negative note in mid-session deals. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.29 per cent to USD 72.81 per barrel.

On the forex market front, the rupee ended 10 paise higher at 73.50 against the US dollar on Thursday.