The Indian equity benchmarks ended Thursday’s choppy session on a positive note led by gains in Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finance, Sun Pharma and Axis Bank. For most part of the day, benchmarks traded in a narrow range on the back of heightened volatility owing to weekly expiry of index derivative contracts. The Sensex traded in a range of 435 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 15,188.50 and low of 15,065.40.
The Sensex ended 222 points higher at 51,531.52 and Nifty 50 index advanced 67 points to close at 15,173.30.
Reliance Industries was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose over 4 per cent to close at ₹ 2,061.80. Reliance Industries alone added more than 250 points towards gain in the Sensex.
Hindalco advanced over 5 per cent to close at ₹ 294 after its net profit in December quarter rose 90 per cent to ₹ 2,021 crore.
Sun Pharma, Adani Ports, GAIL India, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, UPL, Bharat Petroleum, Power Grid, Bajaj Finance, Britannia Industries and HCL Technologies rose between 1.3-2.6 per cent.
On the flipside, Eicher Motors fell 2.5 per cent to ₹ 2,827 after December quarter earnings and Titan dropped 2.45 per cent to ₹ 1,524 after its profit declined 11 per cent in third quarter of current financial year.
Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Coal India, HDFC Life, JSW Steel, Cipla and ONGC were also among the losers.