Sensex Closing Bell: Stock market closed with gains for seventh consecutive day; Sensex rises 521 points, Nifty crosses 24300

New Delhi| Major indices of stock markets closed with gains for the seventh consecutive day. During this time, benchmark index BSE Sensex jumped 520 points to reach above 80,000 for the first time in four months due to strong gains in IT and auto stocks.

Market gains due to foreign capital inflows and positive global trends
The 30-share Sensex rose 520.90 points, or 0.65 per cent, to close at 80,116.49 points, the highest closing level since December 18. It rose 658.96 points, or 0.82 percent, to 80,254.55 points during the day’s trading. NSE Nifty rose by 161.70 points or 0.67 percent to reach 24,328.95 points. Analysts said buying in the market increased after foreign capital inflows and positive global trends.

Highest gain in HCL Tech
Among Sensex companies, HCL Tech showed the highest growth of 7.72 percent. The company reported an 8.1 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,307 crore for the March quarter 2024-25. According to the company, it benefited mainly due to large deals with a total contract value of around Rs 25,500 crore. Tech Mahindra, Tata Motors, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Tata Steel, Bharti Airtel and Maruti also made major gains. Banking stocks saw selling after recent gains. Shares of HDFC Bank were the biggest losers among Sensex stocks, down 1.98 per cent.

Mixed trend seen in Asian stocks
Kotak Mahindra Bank, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, ITC and UltraTech Cement were also among the lagging stocks. In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi index, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed in a positive range. The Shanghai SSE Composite closed with a slight drop.

European markets were trading very fast. There was a strong rise in American markets on Tuesday. The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.71 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 2.66 percent, and the S&P 500 gained 2.51 percent. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 1,290.43 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Profit booking seen in financial sector shares
According to experts, “The Indian equity market maintained its positive momentum on Wednesday”. This was affected by better quarterly results. However, financial sector stocks showed profit-booking after the recent rally

Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Investments Limited, said, “Business tensions between the US and China seem to be reducing”. U.S.’s IT shares rise has strengthened market sentiment globally.”

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.35 percent to $68.35 a barrel. On Tuesday, BSE Sensex had closed at 79,595.59 points, up 187.09 points or 0.24 percent. Nifty had closed at 24,167.25 points, up 41.70 points or 0.17 percent.