Indian stock market closes at 52-week high ahead of Diwali, Sensex rises 484 points

Mumbai, October 17 (IANS). The Indian stock market closed at a 52-week high in Friday’s trading session. At the close of trade, Sensex was at 83,952.19, up 484.53 points or 0.58 per cent, and Nifty was at 25,709.85, up 124.55 points or 0.49 per cent. During the session, Sensex touched 84,099.53 and Nifty 25,781.50, which was a 52-week high. The market rally was led by FMCG stocks. Nifty FMCG index closed with a gain of 1.37 percent. Nifty Auto (0.66 per cent), Nifty Financial Services (0.57 per cent), Nifty Private Bank (0.37 per cent) and Nifty Infra (0.36 per cent) closed with gains. Nifty IT (1.63 per cent), Nifty PSU Bank (0.65 per cent), Nifty Metal (0.85 per cent) and Nifty Energy (0.21 per cent) closed with losses. Asian Paints, M&M, Bharti Airtel, ITC, HUL, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Titan, Maruti Suzuki, Trent, Bajaj Finance, Axis Bank and BEL were the top gainers in the Sensex pack. Infosys, HCL Tech, Eternal (Zomato), Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, Power Grid and L&T were the biggest losers. A decline was seen in midcaps and smallcaps compared to largecaps. The Nifty Midcap 100 index was down 338.90 points or 0.57 per cent at 58,902.25 and the Nifty Smallcap index was down 9.45 points or 0.05 per cent at 18,122.40. Market experts said that the market continued its uptrend and hit a fresh 52-week high, mainly due to the rise in consumer stocks. Banks’ upcoming earnings and signs of easing pressure on asset quality boosted optimism across the industry. In contrast, the IT index is under pressure due to concerns about discretionary spending and rising asset quality risks in the US banking system. He further said that global economic disruptions such as escalating trade war and slow economic data have made investors wary, leading them to prefer gold as an investment, thereby reaching a new high. The Indian stock market started in the green. Around 9:46 am, the Sensex was trading 100.42 points or 0.12 percent higher at 83,568.08, while the Nifty was trading 19.95 points or 0.08 percent higher at 25,605.25. –IANS ABS/