Bourses maintain winning run for 5th day in row amid fag-end buying in IT stocks

Mumbai: Benchmark indices ticked higher for the fifth straight session on Thursday, buoyed by fag-end buying in IT stocks despite a largely downbeat trend overseas.

After swinging between gains and losses throughout the session, the 30-share BSE Sensex saw robust buying towards the fag-end to close 95.71 points or 0.16 per cent higher at 59,202.90.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 51.70 points or 0.30 per cent to 17,563.95.

HCL Technologies topped the Sensex gainers' chart, spurting 2.22 per cent, followed by Tech Mahindra, NTPC, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finserv, Nestle India, Bharti Airtel, TCS and Infosys.

However, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, HDFC Bank, Titan and Axis Bank were among the prominent laggards, dropping as much as 4.71 per cent.

The market breadth was in favour of the bulls, with 18 of the 30 Sensex components closing in the green.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge fell 0.30 per cent and the smallcap index ended marginally lower by 0.01 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas climbed 1.69 per cent, followed by utilities (1.66 per cent), power (1.50 per cent), energy (1.39 per cent), IT (1.20 per cent) and teck (1.19 per cent). Services, bankex, capital goods, consumer durables, industrials and financial services posted losses.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.16 per cent higher at $93.48 per barrel.

The rupee rebounded from its lifetime lows to close 21 paise higher at 82.79 against the US dollar.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 453.91 crore, as per

exchange data.