At 3:30 pm, the Nifty 50 stood at 24,625, up from 24,570 at the regular close. The Sensex rose to 78,581 from 78,502, while the Nifty Bank advanced to 57,740, compared with 57,630 at 3:15 pm.
Among individual stocks, metals dominated the gainers’ list. Vedanta surged 1.81% to ₹276.05 from ₹271.15, emerging as the biggest winner in the auction session. SAIL gained 0.85% to ₹175.75, Hindustan Zinc rose 0.79% to ₹596.70, while Hindustan Copper climbed 0.73% to ₹533.25. LIC also added 0.59% to ₹393.40.
On the downside, Jubilant FoodWorks declined 1.15% to ₹488 from ₹493.70 at the close. Bajaj Finserv slipped 0.74%, Zee Entertainment fell 0.72%, while HFCL and Kalyan Jewellers each lost 0.69%.
The auction session is drawing increasing attention after it was introduced on August 3 for stocks with listed F&O contracts. Under the revised mechanism, regular trading ends at 3:15 pm, followed by a dedicated auction in which buy and sell orders are matched to discover a single equilibrium closing price. Earlier, the official close was based on the volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of trades executed between 3 pm and 3:30 pm.
The regulator says the change is aimed at improving price discovery, increasing transparency and concentrating end-of-day liquidity. Orders during the auction are accepted within a 3% price band around the reference price, which is calculated using trades executed between 3 pm and 3:15 pm.
The latest session continues a trend seen since the rollout of the new mechanism, with benchmark indices witnessing noticeable moves after the cash market closes as institutional investors adapt to the revised settlement process.CNBC-TV18 had earlier reported that SEBI has no plans to review or modify the framework, instead asking brokers to increase awareness and participation among retail investors.
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