- Top gainers on the 50-scrip Nifty index were Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Petroleum, Indian Oil and Hindalco Industries, closing between 5 per cent and 12 per cent higher.
- The Nifty Financial Services index closed 1.4 per cent higher. Other than Bajaj Finance, IIFL, M&M Finance and Shriram Transport Finance - rising between 5 per cent and 8.8 per cent - boosted the sector.
- Weakness in pharma stocks limited the upside in the markets.
- Cadila Healthcare closed 5.3 per cent lower. Zydus Wellness announced acquisition of Heinz India, a subsidiary of US-based Kraft Heinz, jointly with its parent Cadila Healthcare for Rs 4,595 crore. Zydus Wellness shares ended down 4.9 per cent.
- The Nifty Pharma closed 0.4 per cent lower, making pharmaceuticals the only sector that finished in the red.
- The rupee settled at a more than three-week closing high of 73.16 against the greenback, helped by a sharp fall in global crude oil prices overnight. Rupee depreciation boosts profitability for exporters such as pharma companies.
- Analysts expect the markets to trade range-bound going forward.
- "At these levels, the downside may not be too great, unless there is a really systemic shock," Jaikishan Parmar, senior equity analyst at Angel Broking, told NDTV. "However, upsides will be limited till the time the government is able to reasonably resolve the NBFC challenge."
- Sentiment in domestic markets has been sour in recent weeks after a string of defaults at major non-banking financial company IL&FS sparked concerns of a liquidity crunch.
- Wipro shares finished 0.7 per cent lower, ahead of release of quarterly results by the company. The IT major reported a quarter-on-quarter fall of 11 per cent in net profit for the July-September period, missing analysts' estimates.
ADVERTISEMENT
(With agency inputs)
ADVERTISEMENT