New Highs For Sensex, Nifty, Nifty Bank As State-Run Lenders Outperform

Indian equities reversed losses on the weekly options expiry session to end higher for the fourth straight day, scaling new highs in the process.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.7% higher at 50,614 while the NSE Nifty 50 index gained a similar quantum to end at 14,895. Both benchmarks made an intraday record of 50,687 and 14,913 respectively during the session. The Sensex and Nifty are now up over 9% for the week, set for their best weekly advance in 10 months.

The Nifty Bank traded in a 1,200 point range in today's session, finally closing the session with gains of close to 600 points at 35,344. The index advanced for the sixth straight day - its biggest winning streak in three months.

The outperformers of the session were PSU Banks with the index ending nearly 6% higher and close to a 52-week high. The 12-stock index has now gained over 23% during the last five trading sessions.

Other gainers in the session today were FMCG, Media and Metal stocks. The FMCG index ended 2.4% higher while the Media and Metal indices gained 2% each.

I.T. stocks were the only laggards in today's session, the index ending 0.4% lower.

Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks for the second day in a row. The Midcap index gained 1% while the Smallcap index rose 1.5% in today's session.

The India Volatility Index ended 2.6% lower at 23.1.

1,195 stocks on the NSE ended with gains while 690 declined.