Equity benchmarks returned to winning ways on Thursday after two days of declines as investors snapped up financial, pharma and IT stocks amid firm Asian cues.
Bajaj Finance topped the Sensex gainers' chart, rallying 7.29 per cent, followed by Bajaj FinServ, SBI, IndusInd Bank, Dr Reddy’s, Tech Mahindra, ITC and Kotak Bank.
Sentiments also remained upbeat as daily COVID-19 cases in India remained below the 1 lakh-mark for the third day at 94,052, taking the tally to 2,91,83,121, according to the Union health ministry''s data updated on Thursday.
The active cases have reduced to 11,67,952 comprising 4 per cent of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 94.77 per cent.
The 30-share benchmark index ended at 52300.47 up by 358.83 points or by 0.69 % and then NSE Nifty was at 15737.75 up by 102.4 points or by 0.65 %.
Sensex touched intraday high of 52346.35 and intraday low of 51957.92 The NSE Nifty touched intraday high of 15751.25 and intraday low of 15648.5
The top gainers of the BSE Sensex pack were Bajaj Finance Ltd. (Rs. 6087.60,+7.29%), Bajaj Finserv Ltd. (Rs. 11991.60,+3.75%), State Bank of India (Rs. 432.25,+2.56%), IndusInd Bank Ltd. (Rs. 1023.65,+2.02%), Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (Rs. 5290.65,+1.32%), among others.
The top losers of the BSE Sensex pack were ITC Ltd. (Rs. 209.40,-1.41%), Bajaj Auto Ltd. (Rs. 4184.00,-0.91%), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 7199.15,-0.56%), HCL Technologies Ltd. (Rs. 968.50,-0.34%), UltraTech Cement Ltd. (Rs. 6706.00,-0.28%), among others.
Among the sectors, Realty index was at 2878.74 up by 91.11 points or by 3.27%. Indiabulls Real Estate Ltd. (Rs. 113.25,+7.70%), DLF Ltd. (Rs. 313.35,+5.22%), Brigade Enterprises Ltd. (Rs. 279.20,+3.41%), Oberoi Realty Ltd. (Rs. 662.10,+3.36%), Sunteck Realty Ltd. (Rs. 309.95,+3.02%),.
Auto index was at 23988.69 down by -26.29 points or by -0.11%. Eicher Motors Ltd. (Rs. 2702.75,-0.93%), Bajaj Auto Ltd. (Rs. 4184.00,-0.91%), Exide Industries Ltd. (Rs. 192.60,-0.67%), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (Rs. 7199.15,-0.56%), Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (Rs. 3008.15,-0.50%),.