Sensex rallies 514 points, Nifty ends above 17,200; IT, FMCG stocks lead

After a tepid opening on Thursday, domestic benchmark indices gained momentum and scaled fresh highs tracking positive global cues.

After hitting a new peak of 57,892, Sensex ended a new closing high of 57,852, up 514 points or 0.90%. Likewise, the Nifty surged 157 points or 0.92% to settle at a fresh closing high of 17,234. The 50-share index scaled fresh intraday high of 17,245 during the session today.

“Domestic indices nudged higher tracking cues from positive economic data, FII buying and mixed global markets ahead of the release of US job data. Economic data is nudging the performance of core sectors like capital goods & industrials while the recent high performance of the market is also tempting investors to shift to safer defensive sectors. All major sectors followed the market trend while the auto sector lost ground due to weak sales,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The market capitalisation of  BSE-listed firms, which indicates investors’ wealth, rose to Rs 252.66 lakh crore.

Gainers & losers

Top gainers & losers on the Sensex.

Sectoral strand

Most sectoral indices on the NSE closed in the green. Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG rallied 1.67% and 1.64%, each. Nifty Realty rose 1.25%, while Nifty Pharma, Nifty Metal and Nifty Bank added nearly 1%. On the other hand, Nifty Auto and Nifty PSU Bank closed in the red.

Broader markets

The broader markets mirrored the gains in benchmark indices. The BSE Midcap settled at record highs of 24,927 rallying 224 points or 0.93% after hitting a new peak of 24,321. While the BSE Smallcap index rose 215 points or 0.80% to 27,195.

Bulls had an upper hand in today’s session as 1,980 shares advanced compared to 1,210 declining whereas 150 remained unchanged.

Global markets

European stocks rose across the board while Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday, 2 September 2021, as investors geared up for the next reading of U.S. nonfarm payrolls which is due on Friday.

Australia reported a higher-than-expected trade surplus of 12.117 billion Australian dollars (about $8.93 billion) in July, according to data released Thursday by the country’s Bureau of Statistics.