Sensex, Nifty Close Marginally Higher; Tata Technologies, Gandhar Oil Make Strong Debut

(RTTNews) - After a positive start and a subsequent retreat that resulted in a long spell in negative territory, Indian stocks found some support in late afternoon trades on Thursday to eventually end the day's session marginally higher.

Despite easing concerns about the outlook for U.S. interest rates, the market struggled to move higher today as investors chose to wait for some crucial data, including India's second-quarter GDP data, and U.S. inflation readings, for direction.

The BSE benchmark Sensex ended the session with a gain of 86.53 points or 0.13% at 66,988.44. The Sensex touched a low of 66,610.35 and a high of 67,069.80 in the session.

The broader Nifty50 index of the National Stock Exchange, which dropped to 20,015.85 after a slightly positive start, ended the session with a gain of 36.55 points or 0.18% at 20,133.15.

Pharmaceuticals, consumer durables and realty stocks found support. A few stocks from oil, FMCG and automobile sectors too posted notable gains.

UltraTech Cement rallied 3.15%. Sun Pharmaceuticals Industries gained about 2.2%, while Bharti Airtel, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro and Titan climbed 1.6 to 2%.

Axis Bank, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC and Larsen & Toubro ended higher by 1 to 1.4%. Hind Unilever, JSW Steel, Maruti Suzuki, Nestle and HCL Industries posted modest gains.

HDFC Life, Apollo Hospitals Enterprises, Bharti Airtel, Eicher Motors, BPCL, SBI Life, Hero Motocorp, Britannia Industries, ONGC and Divi's Laboratories gained 1.3 to 2.5%.

Adani Enterprises ended down 1.3% and Adani Ports declined 1%. IndusInd Bank, Power Grid Corporation, Reliance Industries, Asian Paints and Tata Motors declined 0.8 to 1.2%. State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services and ICICI Bank ended lower by 0.4 to 0.6%.

Aurobindo Pharma rose 2.53% after the company announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Eugia Pharma Specialities, received final approval from USFDA to manufacture and market Budesonide Inhalation Suspension.

Tata Technologies Limited shares made a sparkling debut. The stock soared to Rs 1,400 on NSE and eventually ended the session at Rs 1,326.70, a hefty premium to the issue price of Rs 500. The counter at NSE clocked a volume of over 46.5 million shares.

Gandhar Oil Refinery also made a strong debut. The stock surged to Rs 344.05 on NSE, and settled at Rs 301.55, against the issue price of Rs 169.

However, it turned out to be a weak first session of Fedbank Financial Services. The stock ended at Rs 139.30, slightly below the issue price of Rs 140.