Market wrap: Benchmarks rally for a third straight day; Nifty atop 17,500

Top headlines

• Benchmarks rally for a 3rd straight day; Sensex up 157 pts, Nifty atop 17,500

• Vodafone Idea hits over 2-year high

• ITC to hold its first ever analysts' meet on Dec 14

• MapmyIndia IPO sails through on day 1; RateGain ends up with 16 times subscription

Bulls had the upper hand in the tug of war seen in markets today, with benchmarks ending higher for a third straight day. Lack of domestic triggers and weekly F&O expiry kept the indices volatile through the day, with the BSE Sensex gyrating over 500 points intra-day.

At close, the BSE benchmark stood at 58,807, up 157 points or 0.27 per cent. The NSE Nifty50, on the other hand, ended 47 points higher at 17,517.

ITC, up 4.6 per cent, was the biggest gainer on the Sensex today. This was after the company announced it would hold its first ever Institutional Investors and Financial Analysts Day on December 14.

L&T, Asian Paints, RIL, M&M, and Tech M, all up between 0.5 and 3 per cent, were the other top gainers on the index. The biggest laggards were HDFC Bank, Titan, Nestle India, NTPC, Power Grid, and HDFC.

In broader markets, the BSE MidCap index closed 0.4 per cent higher and the BSE SmallCap index added 0.8 per cent.

Individually, the shares of Vodafone Idea jumped nearly 17 per cent intra-day to hit a high of Rs 16.7 apiece on the BSE. The shares hit their highest level since May 2016 on the back of reports that the company had managed to raise funds for a repayment of interest amounting to around Rs 6,000 crore to bondholders, starting December 13. They ended 15 per cent higher on the BSE.

Among sectors, the Nifty Bank index was the top loser, down 0.5 per cent, while the Nifty FMCG index gained 1.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, in the primary market, the public offer of MapmyIndia sailed through on the very first day of the issue and was subscribed 1.56 times as at 3:45 PM.

The IPO of Shriram Properties has also garnered 1.2 times subscription so far on day 2. Lastly, the initial share sale of RateGain Travel Technologies has been subscribed 16.45 times as at 4:00 PM on the last day of the issue.

On Friday, primary market activity, retail inflation and IIP data, and global cues will guide the sentiment on the Street.

The fourth IPO for this week – Metro Brands – will open for subscription tomorrow and will run through December 14. Separately, Star Health Insurance will also debut on the bourses tomorrow.