The Sensex and Nifty ended flat owing to a late sell-off on expiry of June series derivatives contracts.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 23.2 points or 0.08 per cent at 30,857.52 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up 12.85 points or 0.14 per cent at 9,504.10.
Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index was the star-performer and was up 2.15 per cent, followed by realty 1.01 per cent, FMCG 0.73 per cent and infrastructure 0.6 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was down 0.09 per cent, banking 0.08 per cent, PSU 0.06 per cent and auto 0.03 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Axis Bank (+3.48%), Tata Steel (+2.85%), Cipla (+1.43%), Bharti Airtel (+1.39%) and Bajaj Auto (+1.1%), while the major losers were Kotak Bank (-1.95%), Tata Motors (-1.4%), State Bank of India (-1.39%), Sun Pharma (-1.23%) and Lupin (-0.8%).
Intraday high
The BSE index hit an intraday high of 31,097.92 and the NSE index jumped to 9,571.10 as investors welcomed a slew of Cabinet decisions announced yesterday.
On Wednesday, the government gave in-principle approval to the disinvestment of beleaguered Air India , which has floundered amid stiff competition from no-frills rivals.
Also, in a move that will spell bonanza to 48 lakh central government employees, the Union Cabinet approved the recommendations of 7th Central Pay Commission.
“Sentimentally, markets are up. We were expecting some bounceback from the 9,450 level,” said K K Mittal, Vice President at Venus India Asset Finance.
Global markets
The dollar shuddered to its lows for the year on Thursday as a drumbeat of hawkish comments from major central banks signalled the era of easy money might be coming to an end for more than just the United States.
Support for the dollar eroded as investors realised the US Federal Reserve might not be the only game in town when it came to higher interest rates.