Market Wrap: Sensex ends 142 pts up, Nifty settles at 10,790; metals shine

The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 35,898, up 142 points or 0.4 per cent, while the broader Nifty50 index settled at 10,790, up 54 points or 0.5 per cent.

Among the sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal index ended 1.13 per cent higher led by gains in Welspun Corp and APL Apollo Tubes. The Nifty Pharma index, too, settled 1.16 per cent higher driven by Dr. Reddy's Labs and Piramal Enterprises.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 123 points, or 0.88 per cent higher at 14,115, while S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 13,414, up 148 points, or 1.07 per cent.

Buzzing stocks

Shares of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) companies have moved higher by 16 per cent in intra-day trade on Thursday, erasing most of their Wednesday’s losses on the BSE. The rally comes on the back of a Reliance Communications (RCom) statement where the company said that it is confident of paying entire Rs 550 crore and interest thereon with four weeks as directed by the Supreme Court (SC). Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management ended at Rs 187 apiece, up 20 per cent.

Shares of Tech Mahindra rose as much as 3.5 per cent in the intra-day trade on the BSE as the company's board approved the buyback of 2.05 crore shares worth Rs 1,956 crore via tender route at Rs 950 per share. The board fixed March 6, 2019, as the record date. The stock settled at Rs 820.40 apiece, up 1.07 per cent.

Oil rises to near 2019 highs, but global economic slowdown applies brakes

Oil prices hovered close to 2019 highs on Thursday, bolstered by OPEC-led supply cuts and US sanctions on Venezuela and Iran, but were prevented from rising further by slowing growth in the global economy.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures were at $57.33 per barrel at 0256 GMT, 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, above their last settlement, but below their 2019 high of $57.55 reached the previous day.

International Brent crude futures were at $67.14 per barrel, 6 cents above their last close and not far off their 2019 peak, hit the day before, of $67.38 per barrel.

Analysts said that a global economic slowdown was preventing prices from surging beyond the 2019 highs seen this week.