Sensex jumps 379 pts, Nifty tops 17,800; auto stocks in fast lane, PSBs dip

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights: Equity markets settled near four-month highs in Tuesday's as fag-end buying in Reliance Industries' stock pushed indices off lows. Besides, upbeat global mood, and steady decline in inflation (CPI and WPI), kept the bulls charged on Dalal Street.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended the session at 59,842, up 379 points or 0.64 per cent. It touched an intra-day high of 59,923 during the day. The NSE Nifty, on the other hand, closed at 17,829, up 131 points or 0.74 per cent, after touching a high of 17,839 intra-day.

Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Asian Paints, HUL, Ultratech Cement, Tech M, and HDFC twins were the top gainers on the Sensex index today, up between 1 and 2.3 per cent. On the downside, Airtel, SBI, Bajaj Finance, and TCS were the only losers, down up to 0.9 per cent.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices settled 1 per cent higher each. Sectorally, the Nifty Auto index jumped 2.5 per cent, followed by the Nifty Realty index (up 2 per cent). On the flipside, the Nifty PSB index dipped 0.3 per cent.