Closing Bell on Thursday, July 18, 2024: A sharp surge in the afternoon session on Thursday pushed benchmarks — BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty — to record high levels. While the Sensex index topped the 81,000-mark for the first time, the Nifty50 surpassed 24,800 in the intraday trade.
The 30-stock Sensex index ended at 81,343, up 627 points or 0.78 per cent, after hitting a record high of 81,522.5. The broader Nifty50, meanwhile, ended at 24,801, up 188 points or 0.76 per cent, after hitting a lifetime peak of 24,838.
TCS, Bajaj Finserv, M&M, HUL, Infosys, HCL Tech, Tech M, SBI, Kotak Bank, Bharti Airtel, ITC, and ICICI Bank rallied in the range of 0.7 per cent to 3 per cent.
The broader markets, however, stayed in the negative zone with the BSE MidCap and SmallCap indices falling 0.99 per cent and 1.15 per cent, respectivrly.
Among sectors, the Nifty IT index gained 2.2 per cent, and ending above the 40,000-mark. This was followed by the Nifty Financial Services index (up 0.57 per cent). On the downside, the Nifty Media index fell 3.57 per cent.
