MUMBAI – Thursday’s session was not really a broad benchmark recovery. The Nifty finished higher, the Sensex slipped, while midcaps and smallcaps posted much stronger gains as buying shifted beyond the largest stocks.
The Nifty 50 rose 53 points, or 0.23%, to 23,270.60, but the Sensex fell 21.86 points, or 0.03%, to 74,314.59. The Nifty moved between 23,193.65 and 23,363.55, while the Sensex touched 74,677.56 before surrendering most of its intraday rise.
The clearest sign came from the broader market. The Nifty Midcap 100 gained about 0.9% and the Nifty Smallcap 100 rose 0.8%, while 12 of 16 major sectoral indices ended higher. Pharma, realty, auto and metal stocks led the advance.Banking provided the main drag on the large-cap benchmarks. Bank Nifty declined 0.42%, with HDFC Bank falling 1.18%. The weakness in financial heavyweights helped explain why the Sensex could not follow the Nifty higher despite stronger participation elsewhere.
Pharma and insurance stocks produced some of the day’s biggest moves. HDFC Life jumped 5.05%, SBI Life gained about 4.1% and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories rose 3.07%. Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles advanced roughly 4.5%, while Bharat Electronics gained 2.51%.
Tata-linked shares added another layer to the session after Tata Sons decided to proceed with listing plans and N Chandrasekaran received a five-year extension as executive chairman. Tata Motors, Tata Steel and Tata Investment Corporation were among the Tata names that moved sharply higher.
The recovery came despite a fresh rate increase in the United States. The Federal Reserve raised its policy rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%-4%, while its projections continued to leave room for another increase this year. The US 10-year Treasury yield remained above 5%.
Foreign money also remained a headwind. FIIs sold ₹2,032.61 crore on Wednesday, while DIIs purchased ₹3,908.23 crore. Brent crude traded around $105 a barrel, and the rupee ended near ₹95.93 per dollar after briefly crossing ₹96.
The Nifty has recovered over the past two sessions, but Thursday’s numbers show a market still divided by sector and company size.
23,300 remains above the closing level of 23,270.60, while Bank Nifty fell 0.42% even as midcaps gained 0.9% and smallcaps 0.8%.
