Mumbai

Indian equity benchmarks extended gains for a second straight session on Thursday, with the BSE Sensex surging nearly 790 points amid strong buying in telecom, pharmaceutical and private banking stocks, despite persistent concerns over a weakening rupee and elevated crude oil prices.

The 30-share Sensex rallied 789.74 points, or 1.06 per cent, to settle at 75,398.72 after a volatile trading session. The index opened on a positive note, slipped into negative territory during late morning trade, but staged a sharp recovery as value buying emerged across heavyweight counters. During the session, it touched an intraday high of 75,681.88.

The broader Nifty 50 also extended its upward momentum, climbing 277 points, or 1.18 per cent, to close at 23,689.60.

Among Sensex constituents, Bharti Airtel led the rally, soaring over 5 per cent after the telecom major announced that its annual revenue had crossed the Rs 2 lakh crore milestone for the first time.

HDFC Bank gained 2.67 per cent, while Eternal advanced 3.32 per cent, emerging among the top contributors to the benchmark’s gains.

Other notable gainers included Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Titan Company, Trent, UltraTech Cement, ITC and State Bank of India.

On the downside, IT stocks remained under pressure, with Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services ending lower. Shares of Hindustan Unilever, Axis Bank and Maruti Suzuki India also closed in the red.

Market analysts said investor sentiment remained resilient despite the Indian rupee touching a record low and crude oil prices staying elevated. Hopes of possible government steps to stabilise the rupee, along with optimism around talks involving US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, also supported risk appetite.

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Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors remained net sellers, offloading equities worth Rs 4,703.15 crore on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors provided support through purchases worth Rs 5,869.05 crore.