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The Indian stock market continued its upward journey on Thursday for the third consecutive session, with both the Sensex and the Nifty closing in positive territory. All eyes are now on the Union Budget 2025-26.

 

At the closing bell, the BSE Sensex gained 226.85 points, or 0.3 per cent, to end the day at 76,759.81. During the session, the index touched a high of 76,898.63 and a low of 76,401.13.

 

The Nifty climbed 86.40 points, or 0.37 per cent, to settle at 23,249.50. The index moved between 23,311.15 and 23,139.20 throughout the trading day.

 

On the Nifty, 35 stocks closed in the green. The top performers included Bharat Electronics, Power Grid Corporation, Cipla, Hero MotoCorp, and Bharti Airtel, which gained up to 4.87 per cent.

 

On the flip side, Tata Motors, ITC Hotels, Shriram Finance, and Bajaj Finserv were among the 17 stocks that ended lower.

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index saw a slight gain of 0.12 per cent, while the Nifty Midcap 100 ended almost flat, with a 0.01 per cent dip.

 

Sectoral performance was mixed. The Nifty FMCG, Healthcare, Financial Services, Pharma, and OMC indices closed with gains of up to 1.55 per cent.

 

However, the Nifty IT index fell by 1.14 per cent to 42,426.65, dragged down by Coforge and Mphasis.

 

The India VIX, which measures market volatility, surged by 6.70 per cent to 17.39 points, indicating a rise in market fluctuations.

According to market experts, a strong recovery in the final hour of trade helped the Nifty close higher at 23,249.50.

 

On January 29, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers for the 19th consecutive session, having sold equities worth Rs 2,586 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,792.71 crore on the same day.

 

In Asian markets, Tokyo settled in positive territory. Markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were closed due to holidays.

 

 European markets were trading in the green. The US markets ended lower on Wednesday.

 

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,586.43 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.43 per cent to USD 76.25 a barrel.