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The Sensex and Nifty ended little changed on Thursday as gains in IT and pharmaceutical stocks were offset by profit-booking in realty and FMCG stocks ahead of F&O expiry today.
The benchmark BSE index closed up 28.05 points or 0.09 per cent at 31,596.06 and recorded a 0.23 per cent weekly gain, while the broader NSE index ended 4.55 points or 0.05 per cent higher at 9,857.05, up 0.2 per cent on week.
Both the indexes posted their seventh weekly gain in eight.
Markets will remain closed on Friday on account of a public holiday.
Among BSE sectoral indices, healthcare index gained the most by 2.53 per cent, followed by IT 0.69 per cent, TECk 0.54 per cent and capital goods 0.53 per cent. On the other hand, realty index fell 0.83 per cent, followed by FMCG 0.24 per cent, and oil & gas 0.12 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Lupin (+3.87%), Sun Pharma (+3.1%), Dr Reddy's (+2.88%), Cipla (+2.47%) and Infosys (+2.01%), while the major losers were Adani Ports (-1.32%), Bajaj Auto (-1.04%), Reliance (-0.88%), HDFC (-0.73%) and HUL (-0.72%).
Gainers, losers
IT stocks were among the top gainers with Infosys rising as much as 2.4 per cent after a group of institutional investors asked the company to bring former CEO Nandan Nilekani back on to its board to settle the feud with the founders.
Gains were however muted as investors booked profit in banking shares after a rally in the previous session following Union Cabinet's approval of a mechanism to oversee consolidation in public sector banks.
Shares of state-run lenders Punjab National Bank and Allahabad Bank fell 1.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent, after gaining 3.4 per cent and 4.7 per cent in the previous session.
A stronger bank will not readily absorb a weaker one because it wouldn't want its balance sheet to weaken, said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice-president of research at SMC Global Securities.
“It is a difficult and a challenging process.”
Pharma stocks such as Sun Pharmaceuticals and Lupin gained over 3.5 per cent each.
Shares of brewers surged after the Supreme Court clarified that the liquor ban on highways did not apply to licensed establishments falling within municipal areas. United Spirits Ltd and Globus Spirits Ltd rose between 5 per cent and 13 per cent.
Meanwhile, domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) remained buyers for yet another day, purchasing shares worth Rs 929.84 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.
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