Indian stock markets on Wednesday ended with gains as the Nifty reclaimed the 24,000 mark, supported by strong buying in IT, realty, and banking stocks.
At the close, the Sensex was up 790.54 points, or 1.04 per cent, at 76,991.22, while the Nifty gained 197.55 points, or 0.83 per cent, to settle at 24,021.65. The Nifty Midcap Index rose 0.10 per cent and the Smallcap Index gained 0.4 per cent.
The overall market capitalisation of firms listed on the BSE rose to over Rs 476 lakh crore from Rs 475 lakh crore in the previous session.
Among the sectoral indices, Information Technology and Realty were the top performers, rising 2 per cent each, while the Private Bank Index gained 1.8 per cent. Auto, Energy, Metal, and Power were the sectors that ended in the red.
On the Nifty, the biggest gainers were InterGlobe Aviation, Adani Enterprises, Tech Mahindra, Trent, and Bajaj Finance, while the major losers included Bajaj Auto, NTPC, ONGC, Tata Steel, and Bharat Electronics.
More than 140 stocks touched their 52-week highs on the BSE. These included KPR Mill, Aether Industries, Caplin Point Laboratories, Welspun Living, FSN E-Commerce Ventures (Nykaa), Apar Industries, ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India, Aurobindo Pharma, Zydus Lifesciences, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Laurus Labs, and Schneider Electric Infrastructure, among others.
The Indian rupee ended marginally higher at 94.65 against the US dollar, compared with its previous close of 94.73.
Textile stocks witnessed heavy buying. Shares of SP Apparels, Pearl Global Industries, Indo Count Industries, KPR Mill, Arvind, Welspun Living, Trident, and Faze Three closed with gains ranging from 5 per cent to 17 per cent.
Among banking stocks, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and IndusInd Bank emerged as the top gainers.
Oil marketing companies such as HPCL, BPCL, and IOCL, along with InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) and Himadri Specialty Chemicals, also closed in the green.