Sensex Hovers At 60,000; Nifty Above 17,800; IT, Auto Stocks Top Gainers

Edited by Peter Noronha

24 Sep 2021, 02:07 PM IST

Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Infosys, Maruti Suzuki and M&M are the top Sensex's gainers

The BSE Sensex is trading around the 60,000 mark on Friday afternoon, albeit off the highs of the days, due to buying interest in select IT, auto and private banking shares. The Sensex had crossed the 60,000 milestone at opening bell to register a lifetime high of 60,333, before giving up some of its gains due to profit-booking at higher levels.The BSE benchmark took a mere eight months from 50k to 60k, after it surpassed 50,000 for the first time in January. It took just six trading sessions to add the last 1,000 points, to 60,000.

At 1:30 pm, the BSE Sensex was trading at 59,996.50, higher by 114.60 points or 0.20 per cent and the NSE Nifty was at 17,835.90, up 13 points. The broader markets are however under-performing their largecap counterparts, with the BSE Midcap index and BSE Smallcap index shedding 1.1 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively.

On the global front, the Asian markets are trading mixed and the European markets are trading in the red.

Meanwhile, Sansera Engineering made a tepid debut on Dalal Street. The Bengaluru-based auto parts maker opened for trading at Rs 811.5 on the BSE, marking a premium of 8.62 per cent from the issue price of Rs 744. The shares are currently trading at Rs 819, up 10 per cent, on the BSE.

On the stock-specific front, Asian Paints has soared more than 3 per cent top the gainer's list on the BSE. Select information technology, auto and private banking shares are also going strong. In the information technology space, HCL Tech and Infosys have gained around 2 per cent each on the BSE. In the auto index, Maruti Suzuki and M&M have gained about a per cent each. And in the private banking space, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ICICI Bank have gained around a per cent each on the BSE.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and Hindustan Unilever have shed 1-3 per cent each on the BSE.

The BSE market is weak. Out of 3,359 stocks traded on the BSE, there are 1,223 advancing shares as against 1,971 declines.