INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Domestic equity indices continued their rally for the fourth day on Thursday as they edged up in early trade
Bullish Asian and US markets also helped the sentiments on Dalal Street.
Wall Street saw record closes overnight as the S-P 500 gained 1.13
per cent to 3,334.69, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.43 per cent to 9,508.68
Asian markets were also trading up.
BSE flagship Sensex was up 131 points to 41,273, while NSE benchmark Nifty added 32 points to 12,121
Broader market indices were faring better than their headline peers as Nifty Smallcap gained 0.56 per cent to 6,239, while Nifty Midcap
jumped 0.50 per cent to 18,206
Nifty 500 was up 0.40 per cent to 9,991.
Barring Nifty Realty, all sectoral indices were trading with gains on NSE
Nifty Metal, Nifty Pharma and Nifty PSU Bank were the biggest gainers, up 0.6-1 per cent
Nifty Media, Nifty Auto and Nifty FMCG also registered some gains
Nifty Realty was down 0.17 per cent.
In the 30-share pack Sensex, HCL Tech was the biggest gainer, up 1.21 per cent
Hero MotoCorp, Sun Pharma and Tech Mahindra were among other major gainers on the index
HDFC was the biggest loser in the pack, down 0.31 per cent to Rs 2,384
Nestle India, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank and Infosys were among other members of the losers' club.
ITI, which cancelled its FPO due to poor
response, gained 9.51 per cent to Rs 92.15, while D-Mart, which announced Rs 4,000 crore QIP on Wednesday, jumped 3.79 per cent to Rs
2,334.50.
Globally, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 1.14 per cent while Japan's Nikkei rose 2.07 per
cent.
Mainland Chinese shares edged up, with the blue chip CSI300 index up 0.87 per cent, helped by policymakers' efforts to prevent heavy
selling, including liquidity injections and de facto restrictions on selling.
Coronavirus is still an overhang on the stock market across
Another 73 people on the Chinese mainland died on Wednesday from the virus, the highest daily increase so far, bringing the total death toll
to 563, the country's health authority said on Thursday.