Closing Bell: Indian market closes higher in a choppy trading session

Domestic equity bourses BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 contained much of their intraday gains in a choppy trading session on Friday, as the market entered a new monthly derivative (futures & options) series.

Frontline equity indices after a positive opening advanced on Friday, extending their winning streak for the second straight day. Nonetheless, the indices ended the session well off their day's highs as contradicting global sentiment broadly hurt risk assets, with most world markets tumbling on poor corporate earnings announcements.

While the expectations that major central banks were on the verge of easing their aggressive rate hike stance boosted risk appetite, the sluggish economic outlook for China and the wider global economy, disappointing results from big tech companies soured sentiment and halted a tentative recovery in equities.

At the closing bell on October 28, Sensex closed up by 203.01 points or 0.34% at 59,959.85, while the Nifty finished higher by 49.80 points or 0.28% at 17,786.80. On the BSE, around 1470 shares have advanced, 1868 shares declined, and 114 shares remained unchanged.

In global markets, cautiousness persisted among participants about the impact of steep interest rate hikes on economic growth, after the ECB announced a 75 bps increase in the benchmark rate along expected lines.

In today's trade, index heavyweight Reliance was up 3% and was primarily responsible for the day's gain. The company single-handedly added 234 points to the BSE benchmark. Another buzzing stock, Maruti jumped 5% to Rs 9,495, after the auto giant registered a 4-fold jump in net profit, exceeding Street estimates.

Other notable gainers include NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, PowerGrid Corporation, Titan and Bajaj Finserv. On the flip side, Tech Mahindra and Tata Steel lost 2.5 per cent each. Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank were the other major losers, falling by 1 - 2% each.

Sector-wise, the BSE Auto index gained nearly 2%, while Energy and Oil & Gas sectors were the other notable gainers. The metal index lost 1.4%, and the IT index closed marginally lower by 0.7%.