Sensex, Nifty continue positive rally; metal and pharma stocks lead charge

Closing bell: The domestic stock markets continued their positive momentum from yesterday buoyed by substantial gains in metal and pharma stocks. Bombay Stock Exchange’s 30-share Sensex jumped 280 points or 0.35 per cent to inch closer to its 52-week high. Sensex ended at 81,740, whereas the National Stock Exchange’s Nifty 50 ended 94 points or 0.38 per cent high at 24,951. 

The market was led by a strong rise in Maruti Suzuki stock which gained as much as 4 per cent in intraday trade. The share of the auto major settled 3.93 per cent higher at Rs 13,380.35 per piece. Following Maruti Suzuki, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, NTPC, and Adani Ports were other top-performing stocks on Wednesday.

Post market hours, Maruti Suzuki also shared its earnings for the first quarter of the current fiscal (Q1FY25), reporting a 47 per cent YOY rise in the net profits. The net profit of the company reached Rs 3,650 crore from Rs 2,485, beating street expectations. The revenue of the automaker for the Q1FY25 rose 10 per cent to Rs 35,531 crore from Rs 32,327 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal. 

Following Maruti Suzuki, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, NTPC, and Adani Ports were other top-performing stocks on Wednesday. 

However, Reliance, Tata Motors, Infosys, and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) were among the top laggards for the day. The shares of M&M fell as much as 6 per cent after the company reported a 6.43 per cent decline in its Q1FY 25 net profit to Rs 3,282.63 crore from Rs 3,508 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal. 

In terms of sectoral performance, Pharma was among the top-performing sectors led by Granuales, Glenmark, Lupin Pharma, and Zydus Life. Torrent Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, and Gland Pharma were among the top performers in the Nifty Pharma index. 

On the other hand,, strong gains in SAIL, JSW Steel, National Aluminium, Hindalco, and Jindal Steel led the Nifty Metal index to surge 1.22 per cent in Wednesday’s trading session. 

Auto, healthcare, mid-small-healthcare, media, and FMCG were among the other sectors which ended on a positive note.