Share Market News: Nifty 50 on track to finish higher for 2nd session; ICICI Bank, M&M, Infosys lead gains

Stock Market News, Nifty 50 Today Market Update, Sensex Today Market Update: Domestic equity benchmarks were on track to close higher for a second straight session on Monday, with gains led by strong buying in stocks from financial, IT, energy and auto pockets. Both headline indices gained as much as 0.9 per cent in intraday trade, with the Sensex rising 771.2 points to an intraday high of 82,492.2 and the Nifty50 adding 226.1 points to touch 25,079.2. Among blue-chip stocks, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys, Reliance and Tata Motors were the top contributors to the gains in both gauges.

Share Market Update | Here are five things to know about the May 26 session on Dalal Street:

• At 11:45 am, both indices held on firmly to the green, each trading about half a per cent higher. The Sensex was up 409.3 points at 82,130.4 while the Nifty was up 126.1 points at 24,979.3.

Market Update | Top Nif y50 Gainers & Losers

• Hero MotoCorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Nestle India, Hindalco, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Finserv and HCLTech, trading between 1.1 per cent and 2.1 per cent higher, rose the most among the 39 top gainers in the Nifty 50 basket.
• On the other hand, Eternal, JSW Steel, UlraTech Cement, Sun Pharma and Kotak Mahindra Bank, trading between 0.3 per cent and 4.0 per cent lower, were the top blue-chip losers.
• RIL, ICICI Bank, M&M, Infosys and Bharti Airtel were the biggest boosts for both indices, whereas Eternal, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Sun Pharma were the biggest drags.

Maharatna PSU NTPC stages strong Q4 show

• NTPC shares gave up strong intraday gains, trading at Rs 345 apiece on BSE. On Saturday, the Maharatna CPSE staged a solid performance for the quarter ended March 31, with a 21.7 per cent surge in its net profit. NTPT's March-quarter PAT stood at Rs 7,897 crore. Zee Business analysts had pegged the PSU's profit at Rs 5,812 crore.

How sectoral gauges fared

• The Nifty Bank, whose constituents are the stocks of 12 major lenders in the country, jumped as much as 477.5 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 55,875.8, taking its two-day gains to more than 900 points at the day's high, driven by gains in HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.
• Last week, the RBI board cleared a record dividend payout of Rs 2.69 lakh crore as surplus to the Union government for FY25. The central bank's mega dividend is set to help the government contain its fiscal deficit in FY26.

The road ahead...

• With the domestic earnings season now out of the way, the focus has shifted back to institutional fund flows and global cues. As of May 23, FIIs and DIIs have made net purchases to the tune of Rs 12,192 crore and Rs 34,498 crore on Dalal Street, respectively.

• Broader indices Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 participated in the overall upmove in the market, trading 0.5 per cent and 0.4 per cent respectively. Overall market breadth favoured the bulls, with an advance-decline ratio of 3:2 as 2,311 stocks rose while 1,561 fell on BSE.

Global Markets | What FTSE 100 and Dow futures signal

• Stoxx 600, FTSE 100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures traded between 0.4 per cent and 1.3 per cent higher in late morning deals in India, suggesting positive start to the day in Europe as well as on Wall Street. Globally, investors breathed a sigh of relief after US President Donald Trump backed away from his threat to impose a 50 per cent duty on imports from the EU. He has agreed to extend the deadline until July 9 for talks.