Sensex, Nifty Fail To Hold Early Gains, Settle Roughly Flat

(RTTNews) - Despite a fairly strong spell in positive territory that lasted close to four hours, Indian equity benchmark Sensex and the Nifty50 settled just marginally up on Thursday as several stocks pared early gains due to a sell-off in the final hour of the day's trading session.

Some encouraging earnings announcements, easing tensions on the trade front, and the passage of a funding bill to end the longest US government shutdown in history helped keep market floating in positive territory for much of the day's session.

The BSE benchmark Sensex, which climbed to 84,919.43 intraday, gaining more than 450 points, settled with a small gain of 12.16 points or 0.01% at 84,478.67. The National Stock Exchange's Nifty50, which surged to 26,010.70, finsihed with a gain of 3.35 points or 0.01% at 25,879.15.

Moody's Ratings said on Thursday that India's economy is expected to grow by around 6.5% through 2027. The agency kept its forecast for India's GDP growth in 2026 at 6.4%, and at 6.5% for 2027. Asian Paints climbed nearly 4% after the company reported a 43% jump in third-quarter net earnings. ICICI Bank gained about 2%, while Power Grid Corporation, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finserv and Bharti Airtel posted moderate gains.

Hindalco, Indigo, Grasim Industries, Cipla, Jio Financials and HCL Technologies closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Eternal ended 3.7% down, and Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles drifted down 2.25%. Mahindra & Mahindra, Trent, Tata Steel, BEL and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles also closed notably lower.

Eicher Motors, Shriram Transport Finance, BEL, ONGC and Tata Consumer Products too ended weak.

The market breadth was negative at close. On BSE, 1,846 stocks closed higher, while 2,380 stocks settled weak, and 154 stocks ended flat.