The benchmark equity indices gave up strong early gains due to profit booking at higher levels on Thursday. The Sensex erased a 734-point rise from the day’s high of 85,290.06 before finally closing at 84,556.40, up 130.06 points (0.15%). The Nifty similarly pared a 213-point surge from its intraday high of 26,104.20, ending the session at 25,891.40, up 22.80 points (0.09%).
Both indices extended their winning streak to a sixth consecutive session, driven by optimism over a potential trade deal with the US. Over this period, the Sensex gained 2,526.42 points (3.08%), while the Nifty advanced 745.90 points (2.97%).
“Domestic equities opened on a positive note but pared early gains as investors booked profits following sanctions on Russian oil and the possible postponement of India–US trade negotiations. Meanwhile, IT stocks advanced as sentiment improved after President Trump’s softer tone on H1B visas,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
“It appears participants chose to lock in profits after a strong rally, especially following favorable developments such as optimism over an imminent India–US trade deal and improving global stability,” said Ajit Mishra, SVP – Research, Religare Broking.
Mishra added that renewed foreign institutional investor (FII) inflows, robust earnings from key sectoral leaders, and sustained festive-season optimism continued to support overall market sentiment.
Broader indices also gave up early gains and ended in the red, with the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices slipping 0.15% and 0.42%, respectively. Market breadth was negative, with 2,398 losers versus 1,860 gainers on the BSE.
The IT sector emerged as the top performer, rising 2.26%, though it pared some intraday gains after being up as much as 3.28% earlier. TECK, Bank, Metal, and FMCG indices also ended higher, advancing up to 1.17%.
Among Sensex constituents, Infosys, HCL Tech, and TCS led the gainers, climbing up to 3.86%. Axis Bank (up 1.37%) and Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.24%) were the other major gainers.
Investors’ wealth declined by ₹58,229 crore, with the total market capitalisation on the BSE easing to ₹470.3 lakh crore.
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth Rs 1,165.94 crore while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 3,893.73 crore, as per provisional data by the BSE.