Market Wrap: Sensex hits six-month high of 38,024; Nifty above 11,400

After surging 500 points in the intra-day trade, the S&P BSE Sensex witnessed a sharp fall at the fag-end of the session, mainly due to profit-booking to end at 38,024, up 269 points or 0.71 per cent. Financial stocks such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank contributed the most to the index's gains while Reliance Industries (RIL), ITC and Hindustan Unilever (HUL) emerged as the biggest drags. 

The NSE's benchmark index Nifty50 closed above 11,400 level at 11,427, up 84 points or 0.74 per cent. The index hit a high of 11,487 levels during the day. 

Both Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their crucial levels of 38,000 and 11,400 levels, respectively in the intra-day trade after a gap of six months.

On a weekly basis, Sensex gained 3.68 per cent and Nifty added 3.54 per cent. 

Market breadth remained in favour of declines as out 2,860 companies traded on BSE, 1,476 declined and 1,209 advanced while 175 remained unchanged. A total of 59 securities hit their 52-week highs while 111 scrips hit their one-year lows.

BROADER MARKET

In the broader market, the S&P BSE MidCap index ended 83 points, or 0.55 per cent higher at 15,172, while the S&P BSE SmallCap index settled at 14,837, up 51 points or 0.34 per cent. 

BUZZING STOCKS

Shares of Titan Company hit a new high of Rs 1,112, up 2.5 per cent, in intra-day trade. The firm is set to join the elite club of Rs 1-trillion market capitalization (market-cap) on the BSE. The stock, eventually settled at Rs 1,095 apiece on BSE, up nearly a per cent. 

Shares of UPL hit a new high of Rs 921, up 2 per cent, in intra-day trade, after more than two million shares of the agrochemicals company changed hands on the BSE through block deal. It settled at Rs 922, up 2 per cent. 

SECTOR WATCH

Among sectoral indices, Nifty PSU Bank index added nearly 2 per cent, as Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank edged higher. The Nifty Private Bank index moved up 1.59 per cent.