Sensex rises 454 points, Nifty ends above 17,500; Reliance, ITC & Infosys top gainers

Indian market closed higher today, backed by gains in index heavyweight Reliance Industries amid a positive trend in global markets. Sensex ended 454.10 points higher at 58,795 and Nifty rose 121 points to 17,536. Reliance Industries was the top Sensex gainer, soaring over 6 per cent, followed by ITC, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Titan, Bharti Airtel and PowerGrid.

Maruti, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, HUL and L&T were among the top Sensex losers, falling up to 1.27%. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 14 ended higher. BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose 174 points to 25,675 and 247 points to 28,822, respectively.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities said, "On the last day of the November F&O series, markets rebounded sharply, largely supported by gains in Reliance Industries Ltd. Technically, Nifty has formed a strong bullish candle and at the same time, it is consistently taking support between 17,400 to 17,350 levels. We are of the view that the intraday support has now shifted to 17450 from 17350 and as long as it's trading above 17450 the uptrend wave will persist up to 17600-17700. On the flip side, below 17450, the uptrend would be vulnerable."

Market cap of the BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 265.66 lakh crore today against Rs 263.62 lakh crore in the previous session.

The market breadth was positive with 2,082 shares ending higher against 1,215 stocks in the red. 114 shares were unchanged.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 5,122.65 crore on November 24, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 3,809.62 crore, as per provisional data available on NSE.

On Wednesday, Indian equity market fell after a single-session pause led by losses in IT, auto, consumer goods and capital goods shares. Sensex ended 323 points lower at 58,340 and Nifty fell 88 points to 17,415. Maruti, Infosys, ITC, Reliance Industries, L&T and Tech Mahindra were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 2.62%.

Meanwhile, rupee slumped 12 paise to close at 74.52 against the US currency on Thursday amid month-end dollar demand and foreign fund outflows from equity and debt markets. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 74.55 and witnessed a high of 74.47 and a low of 74.58 against the US dollar.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong and Tokyo ended with gains, while Shanghai and Seoul were in the red. Stock exchanges in Europe were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude slipped 0.38 per cent to $81.94 per barrel.