Sensex, Nifty End Higher After Choppy Session; Gains Trimmed By Profit-Booking

Indian equity benchmarks ended Friday’s session with modest gains, though much of the early momentum fizzled out in the latter half of the day due to profit-booking at higher levels.

At the closing bell, the Sensex rose 187 points, or 0.23 per cent, to settle at 83,570, while the Nifty added 28 points, or 0.11 per cent, to close at 25,694.

The broader markets mirrored the cautious tone of frontline indices. The Nifty Midcap 100 slipped 0.07 per cent, while the NSE Smallcap 100 declined 0.34 per cent.

The benchmark Nifty opened flat at 25,696 and climbed to an intraday high of 25,873, driven by a sharp rally in IT stocks following stronger-than-expected December quarter results.

The index, however, failed to sustain higher levels and slipped to an intraday low of 25,662 as investors booked profits.

On the sectoral front, IT, realty and banking stocks outperformed the broader market.

The Nifty IT index emerged as the top gainer, surging 3.34 per cent. In contrast, Nifty Pharma and consumer durables indices fell 1.30 per cent and 1.15 per cent, respectively.

The Nifty Bank index gained around 0.84 per cent to close at 60,082, moving closer to a potential new record high. Market analysts noted that IT stocks outperformed on the back of an upward revision in revenue growth projections by a leading industry bellwether, along with expectations of increased technology spending.

Banking stocks also attracted buying interest as early quarterly results indicated improvements in asset quality and margin profiles, bolstering investor sentiment.

Market Breadth Marginally Positive

In the derivatives segment, market breadth remained marginally positive, with 131 stocks advancing against 82 declines.

Looking ahead, analysts believe that better-than-expected Q3 FY26 earnings could lead to stock-specific movements, although foreign institutional selling is likely to persist in the near term.

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