Indian Stock Market Edges Higher on Third Consecutive Day

20 Mar 2024 , 11:58 PM

In a day characterized by predominantly range-bound trading, Indian benchmark indices managed to eke out marginal gains on Monday, extending their winning streak for the third consecutive day.

Initially, the Nifty 50 surged to a fresh all-time high in early trading hours, but later relinquished some of its gains. Similarly, the Sensex, which commenced trading at 73,903.09, reached a peak of 73,990.13 during the session, before retracting slightly to close with a modest increase of 66.14 points, or 0.09%, settling at 73,872.29.

Meanwhile, the Nifty 50, starting the day at 22,403.50, achieved a record intraday high of 22,440.90. However, by the closing bell, it managed a marginal uptick of 27.20 points, or 0.12%, concluding at 22,405.60.

Among the top gainers on the Sensex were NTPC, Power Grid Corp., Reliance Industries, Bajaj Finserv, and Axis Bank, whereas JSW Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement, and Infosys experienced declines.

Similarly, NTPC, HDFC Life, Power Grid Corp., ONGC, and BPCL emerged as the top performers on the Nifty 50, while Eicher Motors, JSW Steel, SBI Life, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Britannia witnessed losses.

Sector-wise, the Oil & Gas index emerged as the strongest performer, recording a gain of 1.87%. Conversely, sectors such as Media (down 1.85%), IT (down 0.77%), FMCG (0.45%), Metal (down 0.23%), and Auto (down 0.49%) faced notable declines.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index closed with a modest gain of 0.16%, while the BSE SmallCap index experienced a decline of 0.78%.