Benchmark indices were trading in the green during the afternoon on Thursday, supported by realty and oil & gas stocks. After opening on a positive note, benchmarks remained firm, led by gains in heavyweights such as Reliance and HDFC, following positive global cues.

At 1 pm, the BSE Sensex was at 52,041.36,up 191.88 points or 0.37 per cent. It hit an intra-day high of 52,240.61 and a low of 52,000.62. Nifty 50 remained above the 15,600 levels and was ruling at 15,640.75, up 64.55 points or 0.41 per cent. It surpassed its previous all-time high of 15,660.75 to hit a fresh high of 15,693.15. It hit an intra-day low of 15,628.90. Notably, the volatility index softened 9.18 per cent to drop below 16 to 15.63, signaling the confidence of bulls.

Also read: Sensex trades higher; Nifty tops 15,650

Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, CapitalVia Global Research Limited said, “In morning trades, Indian equities benchmarks remained in the green, following the lead of the global counterparts. Sentiments also remained positive after Credit ratings firm Crisil indicated in its recent report that the extended Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) will assist industries such as hotels, civil aviation, and tour operators, which have been struck the hardest by the second wave of Covid 19.”

“Investors weighed inflation fears as Wall Street's main indexes saw small gains on Wednesday, ahead of major U.S. economic data due later in the week. Asian markets were also trading higher following wall street and other global peers,” added Garg.

Titan, ONGC, Eicher Motors, Adani Ports and Axis Bank were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Auto, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech and Cipla were the top laggards.

Also read: Indian equities likely to outperform global peers

IT, Auto and pharma lag

On the sectoral front, all indices except Nifty Auto, Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma were in the green. Nifty Pharma was down 0.26 per cent while Nifty It was down 0.24 per cent. Nifty Auto was down 0.15 per cent.

Meanwhile Nifty Realty recorded the highest gains and was up 3.80. Metal stocks also recorded gains with Nifty Metal up 0.97 per cent.

Broader indices

All broader indices were in the green, with midcap and smallcap stocks continuing to outperform the benchmarks.

Nifty Midcap 50 was up 0.84 per cent while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 1.25 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was up 1.02 per cent while the S&P BSE Smallcap was up 1.21 per cent.