Sensex, Nifty close higher in first session of FY23; banking, oil & gas shares lead gains

Indian equity market ended higher in the first session of the new fiscal today. Sensex rose 708 points to 59,276 and Nifty ended 205 points higher at 17,670.

NTPC, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, SBI, HDFC and M&M were the top gainers, rising up to 5.93% today. Tech Mahindra, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy's, Titan and Infosys were the sole Sensex losers, falling up to 0.80%.

BSE mid cap and small cap indices rose 335 points and 483 points, respectively.

Banking stocks were the top sectoral gainers with BSE bankex zooming 842 points, followed by BSE oil and gas index rising 512 points today. All 19 BSE sectoral indices closed in the green today.

"Indian equity markets gave positive returns this week. Globally too, equity markets remained broadly resilient led by optimism on progress in Russia-Ukraine negotiations. On the other hand, commodities saw some correction from the recent highs. In India, markets saw broad based gains with most sectoral indices giving positive returns. Crude oil prices corrected this week and that is some positive for import dependent countries including India," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities.

Share Market updates: Sensex rises 700 points, Nifty ends above 17,650; NTPC, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank top gainers

The market breadth was positive with 2,721 shares ending higher against 674 stocks in the red. 106 shares were unchanged.

Market cap of BSE-listed firms rose to Rs 267.90 lakh crore.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 3,088.73 crore on Thursday, according to stock exchange data.

Indian equity market ended lower on Thursday, after a three-day rally, dragged down by profit-taking in Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank.

Sensex closed 115.48 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 58,568.51 and Nifty declined 33.50 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 17,464.75.

However, for fiscal 2021-22, Sensex zoomed 9,059.36 points or 18.29 per cent, while the Nifty rallied 2,774.05 points or 18.88 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia, exchanges in Seoul and Tokyo ended lower, while Shanghai and Hong Kong settled in the green. Markets in Europe were mostly trading higher.

Stock exchanges in the US ended on a negative note in the overnight session. Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 0.22 per cent to $104.94 per barrel.