The Sensex rose 374 points to close at 78,955, while the Nifty added 11 points to settle at 24,636. The Nifty Bank index outperformed, climbing 324 points to 58,064, supported by gains in State Bank of India and other PSU lenders. In contrast, the Nifty Midcap index fell 278 points to 63,227, with declining stocks comfortably outnumbering advancing ones.
A key reason the benchmarks managed to stay in the green was Reliance Industries, which rallied 4% and alone contributed nearly 80 points to the Nifty’s gains. State Bank of India also gained close to 3% ahead of its June-quarter earnings, helping financial stocks remain firmly in favour.
Thursday’s closing auction under the Special Call Auction Session (CAS) saw only minor adjustments compared with the previous three trading sessions. From the 3:15 pm levels, the Nifty moved just 8 points, the Sensex adjusted by 169 points and the Nifty Bank by 56 points, marking a far more muted post-CAS move than seen earlier this week.
Among individual stocks, Power Grid emerged as the biggest drag on the benchmark after reporting weaker-than-expected June-quarter earnings, falling nearly 4%. Bharti Airtel and select automobile stocks also weighed on the Nifty.
Elsewhere, Blue Star ended 6% lower after a weak quarterly performance, while BSE extended its decline, closing more than 3% lower alongside Angel One. Hero MotoCorp also witnessed profit booking ahead of its earnings announcement.
On the positive side, defence stocks continued to attract buyers, with Mazagon Dock, HAL, BDL and Cochin Shipyard gaining as much as 6%. Kalyan Jewellers rallied 5% in the second half of the session, while Tata Technologies jumped over 6% following reports of a fresh order win from Honda.The session ultimately reflected a market where heavyweight buying was enough to keep the benchmark indices afloat, even as weakness across the broader market painted a far more cautious picture
