Mumbai: Indian equity benchmarks extended their winning run for a third consecutive session on Friday, July 31, supported by strong buying in financial, automobile and heavyweight shares.
The BSE Sensex gained 166 points to close at 78,095, while the NSE Nifty 50 advanced 66 points to settle at 24,384.
Broader markets also remained firm. The Nifty Bank rose 117 points to 57,265, while the Nifty Midcap index climbed 274 points to 62,915.
Earnings Boost
Positive reactions to quarterly earnings lifted several financial and automobile stocks.
Mahindra & Mahindra and Bajaj Finance gained between 4 percent and 8 percent. Bajaj Finserv followed Bajaj Finance’s strong movement and closed more than 6 percent higher.
Hyundai Motor India surged 8 percent after the company retained its guidance despite reporting lower volumes during the first quarter.
Heavyweights Rise
Reliance Industries and Jio Financial Services provided further support to the benchmark indices.
Jio Financial Services ended 4 percent higher and featured among the leading Nifty gainers. Reliance Industries continued its recent upward movement and closed 1 percent higher.
Among other earnings-driven stocks, Torrent Pharmaceuticals gained 5 percent, GAIL (India) rose 4 percent, and Aditya Birla Capital advanced 3 percent following healthy first-quarter results.
IT Stocks Fall
Losses in information technology shares and companies reporting weaker-than-expected earnings limited the market’s gains.
Dixon Technologies declined 4 percent after its results missed expectations, while Mankind Pharma also fell 4 percent. Eternal and Swiggy ended around 3 percent lower each, snapping their recent winning streaks.
ITC slipped 1 percent before its quarterly results. APL Apollo Tubes dropped over 4 percent ahead of its earnings announcement, while LIC Housing Finance declined 3 percent after publishing its numbers.
TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Eternal and Max Healthcare were among the major Sensex laggards.
Weekly Recovery
The benchmarks recovered strongly during July 27-31 and erased all their losses from the previous week.
The Nifty gained more than 2.5 percent, recording its strongest weekly rise in nearly four months, helped by broad-based buying across large-cap and mid-cap shares during the week.
