Sensex rises 142 pts in fag-end, Nifty near 17,900; broader indices fall

CLOSING BELL

Stock market highlights: Benchmark indices remained range-bound for better part of the session, only to turn higher during the last hour of trade. The S&P BSE Sensex moved in a band of less than 400 points during the day, before ending at 60,806, up 142 points or 0.23 per cent.

The Nifty50 index, on the other hand, closed at 17,894, rising 22 points or 0.12 per cent. It hit a low of 17,780, and a high of 17,917 during the day. 

HDFC Life, Bajaj twins, IndusInd Bank, Asian Paints, SBI Life, Infosys, Divis Labs, and ONGC were the large-caps that advanced between 1 per cent and 2.3 per cent. On the downside, Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports, Hero MotoCorp, Cipla, JSW Steel, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, UPL, Ultratech Cement, HDFC, Bajaj Auto, and Tata Motors fell over half a per cent to 11 per cent.

Trend was negative in the broader markets with the BSE MidCap index down 0.01 per cent, and the BSE SmallCap index 0.15 per cent.

Sectorally, most indices closed around flat line with marginal changes either side. The Nifty IT index was the top gainer, up 0.7 per cent, on the NSE. On the flipside, the Nifty Metal index fell 1.5 per cent bogged down by Adani Enterprises.