Stock Market Highlights: Nifty, Sensex Post Best Week In Four Years In Holiday-Shortened Trading

The benchmark equity indices recorded their best week in four years as they closed higher for the third consecutive session on Thursday.

The NSE Nifty 50 closed 414.45 points or 1.77% higher at 23,851.65, while the BSE Sensex ended 1,508.91 points or 1.96% up at 78,553.2. The indices surged over 4.3% in a curtailed week lathered with long weekend holidays.

The Nifty Bank came nearly 100 points close to its record high during noon trading hours but did not reach the all-time-high mark and declined over 300 points at market close.

Shares of ICICI Bank Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., Bharti Airtel Ltd. and State Bank of India led the gains in the Nifty.

Wipro Ltd., JSW Steel Ltd., Hero MotoCorp. and Tech Mahindra Ltd. weighed on the index the most.

All the 15 sectoral indices on the National Stock Exchange ended with gains, with the Nifty Finance, Nifty Bank and Nifty PSU Bank advancing the most.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap and SmallCap underperformed the benchmark as they rose 0.60% and 0.90% respectively.

On the BSE, all the 21 sectoral indices ended with gains, with Bankex and Financial Services being the top sectoral performers.

The market breadth was skewed in favour of the buyers as 2,421 stocks advanced, 1,509 declined and 162 stock remained unchanged on the BSE.