Special trading session: Sensex, Nifty open higher; IRCON, RVNL & IRFC jump up to 13%

Indian equity benchmarks started on a positive note in Saturday's special trading session, led by gains in banks and financials. The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 283 points or 0.40 per cent to trade at 71,967, while the NSE Nifty was up 88 points or 0.41 per cent to trade at 21,710. Broader markets (mid- and small-cap shares) were positive as Nifty Midcap 100 rose 0.86 per cent and small-cap gained 0.54 per cent.

On the global front, Asian markets were closed today. Overnight, Wall Street equities settled with sharp gains.

Back home, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold Rs 3,689.68 crore worth of shares on a net basis during the previous session while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought Rs 2,638.46 crore worth of shares, exchange data showed.

Exchanges were open today in a special but full-fledged trading session. "January 22 has been declared as a public holiday for stock markets by the Maharashtra government owing to the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and a full-fledged trading session will be held on January 20," NSE informed late on Friday.

14 out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the NSE -- were trading in the green. Sub-indexes Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services were outperforming the NSE platform by rising as much as 0.68 per cent and 0.65 per cent, respectively. Nifty FMCG, however, shed 0.02 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, Britannia was the top gainer in the Nifty pack as the stock soared 1.95 per cent to trade at Rs 5,238.95. HDFC Bank, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finance and NTPC rose up to 1.45 per cent.

In contrast, Wipro, Hindustan Unilever, UltraTech Cement, Tech Mahindra and Nestle were among the top losers on Nifty50.

The overall market breadth was strong as 2,450 shares were advancing while 1,366 were declining on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, ITC, NTPC, Bajaj Finance, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma and SBI were among the top gainers.

Also, BSE 500 stocks such as IRCON, RVNL, IRFC, Engineers India, HFCL, SW Solar, RBL Bank, Jupiter Wagons and RITES moved up to 13.09 per cent higher. On the other hand, Tejas Networks, CESC, Metropolis Healthcare, IndiaMART, Sunteck Realty and Fortis slipped up to 4.52 per cent.

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