Indian equity benchmarks managed to end mildly higher on Thursday, rising for a third straight day. Gains in auto, metal and FMCG stocks pushed the headline indices higher, though losses in financial shares limited the upside. Strength in heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and ITC helped the market stay afloat in the green on a choppy day.

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The Sensex ended 157.5 points or 0.3 percent higher at 58,807.1 and the broader Nifty50 settled at 17,516.9, up 47.1 points or 0.3 percent from its previous close. Reliance Industries, ITC and Larsen & Toubro were the biggest movers for both headline indices.

ITC, Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints, UPL, Britannia, Reliance Industries and Hero MotoCorp were among the top blue-chip gainers, ending between 1.4 percent and 4.9 percent higher.

On the other hand, HDFC Bank, Titan, Nestle, SBI Life, NTPC, SBI and TCS, closing between 0.7 percent and 1.8 percent lower, were the worst hit among the 24 laggards in the Nifty pack.

The Nifty Bank ended half a percent lower, following two days of gain. HDFC Bank, SBI and Axis Bank fell around one percent each.

ITC shares ended 4.6 percent higher after the conglomerate confirmed it would hold its first-ever analyst meet, on December 14.

SBI Cards shares fell six percent to Rs 956 after Macquarie said the caps on credit card merchant discount rates (MDRs) will be negative for the company.

Broader markets also strengthened, with the Nifty Midcap 100 index rising 0.6 percent at the close. Its smallcap counterpart rose 1.2 percent.

Vodafone Idea, Aditya Birla, Adani Gas, Just Dial and JM Financial -- up 4.4-16.5 percent -- were among the top gainers in the broader indices. JSW Energy, Oil India, Page, KEI Industries and Chambal Fertilisers -- down 1.5-4.1 percent -- were among the top laggards.

Vodafone Idea shares surged to a 52-week high of Rs 16.7 during the session.

Overall market breadth favoured the bulls, with an advance-decline ratio of 2:1. More than 300 stocks in the BSE 500 pack finished the day in the green.

Meanwhile, European equities rose amid positive comments from vaccine makers that eased some concerns around the Omicron variant of COVID. The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.3 percent at the last count.

S&P 500 futures were down 0.3 percent, suggesting weakness ahead on Wall Street.

Catch highlights of the December 9 session

First Published:Dec 9, 2021 3:43 PM IST