Stock market indices Sensex and Nifty were trading in the green during the afternoon on Friday, tracking positive global cues. After opening on a positive note, indices extended gains in the first half on the back of gains witnessed in IT and oil and gas stocks. At 1 pm, though off the day’s highs, indices were trading in the positive terrain.
At the time of filing this report, the BSE Sensex was trading at 56,204.34, up 386.23 points or 0.69 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 56,432.65 and a low of 56,164.59.
The Nifty 50 was trading at 16,703.25, up 75.25 points or 0.45 per cent. It recorded an intraday high of 16,793.85 and a low of 16,696.10.
Reliance, Infosys, Wipro, L&T and HCL Tech were the top gainers on the Nifty 50 while Grasim, Ultratech Cement, Shree Cement, NTPC and Hero Motocorp were the top losers.
IT, oil & gas in focus
On the sectoral front, a majority of indices were in the red. While IT and oil and gas gained auto, metals, consumer durable, realty and PSU Bank faced increased pressure.
Nifty IT was up 1.54 per cent while Nifty Oil & Gas was up 0.65 per cent.
On the other hand, Nifty Auto was down 0.97 per cent. Nifty PSU Bank was down 0.66 per cent, while Nifty Metal was down 0.48 per cent. Nifty Realty and Nifty Consumer Durables were down 0.43 per cent and 0.42 per cent, respectively.
Midcaps under pressure
Broader market also faced pressure during the day. Nifty Midcap 50 was down 0.60 per cent, while Nifty Smallcap 50 was up 0.31 per cent. The S&P BSE Midcap was down 0.51 per cent, while the S&P BSE Smallcap was down 0.28 per cent.
The volatility index softened 4.82 per cent to 19.34.