Markets jump for 5th day: Sensex reclaims 74k mark, Nifty closes above 22,550 level

Mumbai: Rising for the fifth straight session, equity benchmark Sensex rallied nearly 500 points to reclaim the 74,000 mark, while the Nifty closed above the 22,550 level on Thursday due to heavy buying in banking, financial and metal stocks.

Recovering after a sell-off in early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 486.50 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 74,339.44. During the day, it surged 718.31 points or 0.97 per cent to 74,571.25.

The NSE Nifty advanced 167.95 points or 0.75 per cent to 22,570.35.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies jumped to a lifetime peak of Rs 404.18 lakh crore on Thursday helped by a five-day rally in benchmark indices, making investors richer by Rs 11.29 lakh crore.

From the Sensex basket, Axis Bank jumped 6 per cent after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,599 crore during the March 2024 quarter.

State Bank of India, NTPC, Nestle, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra and HCL Technologies were among the other major gainers.

Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Maruti and Asian Paints were among the laggards.

Cracking down on repeated non-compliance with IT norms, the RBI on Wednesday barred Kotak Mahindra Bank from onboarding new customers through its online and mobile banking channels and issuing fresh credit cards with immediate effect after the regulator found “serious deficiencies” in the lender’s IT risk management. In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.71 per cent and smallcap advanced 0.54 per cent.

Among the indices, services advanced 1.71 per cent, metal (1.16 per cent), healthcare (0.97 per cent), power (0.94 per cent) and energy (0.87 per cent).

Consumer durables and realty were the laggards.