Mumbai stocks registered a mixed session on Thursday, led by Reliance Industries’ strong performance, as global markets and the RBI’s steady policy stance influenced investor sentiment amid cautious trading and sector-specific movements.
Mumbai stocks finished mixed on Thursday, with the Sensex advancing 373.76 points, or 0.48%, to 78,954.76, while the Nifty edged up just 11.35 points, or 0.05%, to 24,636. The blue-chip indices opened firmer and stayed positive through the session, but the broader market remained restrained as traders weighed falling volatility in some sectors against a more selective bid for large-cap shares. According to ETBFSI, the day’s split finish extended a run of uneven trading that began after exchanges introduced a closing auction mechanism for futures-and-options stocks earlier in the week.
Reliance Industries was the strongest performer in the Sensex pack, rising 3.43%, while ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, Bharat Electronics, Eternal and Titan also gained. On the other side, Power Grid, Tata Consultancy Services, InterGlobe Aviation and Mahindra & Mahindra lagged. Power Grid Corporation of India fell 3.99% after reporting a slight year-on-year drop in consolidated net profit for the June quarter, underscoring how results season continued to drive stock-specific moves even as the headline indices moved only modestly.
Market sentiment found support from easing crude prices and hopes for calmer conditions in West Asia, with Brent trading at $79.52 a barrel. Vinod Nair of Geojit Investments said the Reserve Bank of India’s steady policy stance and its constructive growth outlook also encouraged selective buying in banking and energy names. The RBI, after leaving the repo rate unchanged at 5.25% for a fourth straight meeting on Wednesday, kept its policy stance neutral and said the next move would depend on incoming data. The central bank also nudged its growth projection for the current fiscal year to 6.7% while trimming its inflation forecast to 5%.
Overseas markets offered a mixed backdrop. South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 4.58%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.49% and Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.93%, while Shanghai ended slightly higher. European shares were firmer, but US markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday. Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth ₹943.42 crore on Wednesday, exchange data showed. The muted Nifty close echoed other recent sessions in which heavyweight stocks, especially Reliance, have done much of the lifting; on February 20, for example, broad buying in large caps helped the Sensex gain 317 points and pushed the Nifty above 25,550.
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