The Sensex ended last trading session of 2015 on a positive note while the Nifty settled close to its crucial psychological level of 7,950 led by buying in IT, oil & gas and realty stocks which emerged in the last hour of trade.
For most part of the day, the Sensex and Nifty traded on a flat note amid volatility due to expiration of derivative contracts for the month of December.
Meanwhile, on a year-on-year basis, the stock markets gave negative returns with the Sensex declining 5 per cent while the Nifty falling 4 per cent.
In today's session, IT, oil & gas, realty, power and FMCG stocks witnessed buying interest. While, selling pressure was seen in select banking, capital goods, consumer durables and pharma stocks.
From the Nifty-50 basket of stocks, 34 stocks declined while 16 stocks advanced.
HDFC was the top gainer in the Nifty, up 2.44 per cent at Rs 1,264. Coal India, Bharti Airtel, Zee Entertainment, GAIL India, Idea Cellular, HCL Technologies and Infosys were also among the gainers, up 1.74-2.4 per cent each.
On the other hand, Punjab National Bank was the top loser, down 1.78 per cent to Rs 115.70. Vedanta, Axis Bank, Yes Bank, Ambuja Cements and Hero MotoCorp were also among the laggards.
Among the individual shares, Petronet LNG shares rose as much as 3.9 per cent to hit a high of Rs 257.40 after RasGas signed an agreement with Petronet LNG for waiving a $1 billion penalty that the Qatar-based company had imposed on the Indian company for breaking a long-term liquified natural gas (LNG) contract.
Cadila Healthcare Ltd said it received a US Food and Drug Administration warning for violating manufacturing standards at two of its production facilities, the latest in a series of Indian firms to face such action.
Cadila's shares plunged as much as 17 per cent in Mumbai to their lowest intraday level since March.
The broader markets underperformed the benchmark indices. The BSE mid-cap index advanced 0.35 per cent and the small-cap index added 0.5 per cent.
The Sensex finally closed 157 points higher at 26,117 and the 50-share Nifty jumped 50 points to close at 7,946.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
