The Indian equity benchmarks gained for fifth session in a row on Thursday paced by gains in metal, pharma, healthcare and oil & gas shares. The benchmarks traded in a narrow range owing to weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts. The Sensex moved in a band of 399 points and Nifty 50 index touched an intraday high of 18,272 and low of 18,163.
The Sensex rose 85 points to close at 61,235 and Nifty 50 index added 45 points to settle at 18,258.
In the last five trading sessions, the Sensex has advanced 2.74 per cent and Nifty 50 index has climbed 2.88 per cent.
Nine of 15 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by Nifty Metal index's 3.5 per cent gain. Nifty Pharma, Healthcare, PSU Bank, Media, Auto and Oil & Gas indexes also rose between 0.3-1.3 per cent.
On the other hand, Nifty Bank, Financial Services, Private Bank and Realty indices ended lower.
Mid- and small-cap shares outperformed their larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices rose 0.6 per cent each.
Tata Steel was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 6.3 per cent to close at Rs 1,219. JSW Steel, Sun Pharma, Coal India, Larsen & Toubro, Divi's Labs, Cipla, UPL, Indian Oil, Hindalco and Bharat Petroleum also rose between 1.6-4.3 per cent.
On the flipside, Wipro was top Nifty loser after it reported weaker than expected December quarter earnings. The stock dropped 6 per cent to close at Rs 650.
Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Grasim Industries, ONGC, Axis Bank and Tata Consumer Products were also among the losers.
The overall market breadth was neutral as 1,737 shares ended higher while 1,683 closed lower on the BSE.
