Markets gain for a fourth consecutive day; Sensex ends 385 points higher

The Sensex increased by 385 points, or 0.6 per cent, to close at 66,266, its highest since 9 August

The benchmark Sensex and the Nifty50 ended in the green for the fourth consecutive day on Thursday, led by gains in banking stocks and engineering behemoth Larsen & Toubro (L&T).
 

The broader markets, meanwhile, clocked their new lifetime highs on the day with the BSE 200 index closing at 8,653, the BSE 500 at 27,558, the BSE Midcap at 32,375, the BSE Smallcap at 38,101, the Nifty Midcap 100 at 40,593.9 and the Nifty Smallcap 100 at 12,734.15.
 

After trading listless for most part of the day, the benchmark indices witnessed sharp increase in the last couple of hours of trade amid an over 4 per cent spike in the shares of L&T following a report that it had bagged a Rs 24,000 crore order from Saudi Aramco.

The Sensex rose 385 points or 0.6 per cent to end at 66,266, the most since August 9 while the Nifty50 rallied 116 points or 0.6 per cent to finish at 19,727, the most since August 1.
 

The 30-share index is now 2.6 per cent below its all-time closing high of 67,619 hit on July 20 while the Nifty50 is 1.3 per cent below its closing high of 19,992, also logged on the same day.
 

The market capitalisation of all BSE-listed companies also made a fresh high of Rs 319 trillion ($3.8 trillion).  
 

On the day, the shares of L&T rose 4.3 per cent to close at Rs 2,847, valuing the company at Rs 4 trillion. The stock made a 124-point contribution to the Sensex gains.
 

HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of India accounted for the rest of the increase. IT major Infosys and fast-moving consumer goods major ITC weighed on the performance.
 

“The domestic market initially opened with a lackluster performance, influenced by weak global cues. However, as the day progressed, a decline in the US bond yields and crude oil prices injected some positivity into the market. This optimism was most visible in banking stocks,” said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.