Indian equity benchmarks rose for six straight sessions
with Nifty and Sensex settling above the psychological 17550 and 59300 levels
respectively amid gains in Axis Bank and ICICI Bank. Markets made gap-up
opening and sustained their gaining momentum in the afternoon session, as
sentiments remained upbeat after official data showed that retirement fund body
EPFO net added 16.94 lakh new subscribers in August 2022, registering a 14.4%
rise as compared to the year-ago period.

The Sensex ended 104.25 points or 0.18% higher at
59,307.15, recording its sixth day of gains. During the day, it jumped 388.03
points or 0.65% to 59,590.93. The Nifty ended marginally higher by 12.35 points
or 0.07% at 17,576.30.

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The broader indices ended in red the BSE Mid cap index
declining by 0.75% and SmallCap index down by 0.60%. The few gaining sectoral
indices on the BSE were Bankex up by 2.07%, Realty up by 0.10%, PSU up by
0.09%, while Capital Goods down by 1.12%, Industrials down by 1.07%, Metal down
by 0.89%, Power down by 0.74% and Utilities was down by 0.55% were the top losing
indices on BSE.

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Top gainers from the Sensex pack were Axis Bank up by
8.96%, ICICI Bank 2.13%, Hindustan Unilever 2.11%, Kotak Mahindra 2.05%, Nestle
1.43%, Titan Company 1.39%, State Bank of India 0.97%, Ultratech Cement 0.97%,
HCL Tech 0.93%, and Mahindra & Mahindra 0.69%.

Among the laggards were Bajaj Finance down by 3.20%, Bajaj
Finserv 2.39%, IndusInd Bank 1.63%, Larsen & Toubro 1.51%, Asian Paints
1.38%, ITC 1.19%, Reliance 1.16% and NTPC 1.05%.

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The Indian rupee pared its initial losses and settled 4 paise higher
at 82.75 against the US dollar, tracking a positive trend in domestic equities.

Asian markets settled mostly lower with the Hang Seng down
by 0.42%, the Nikkei 225 down by 0.43%, the KOSPI Composite down by 0.22%, and
the Shanghai Composite up by 0.13%.

European stock exchanges were trading lower in mid-session
deals. US stock markets ended lower on Thursday.

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Brent crude futures, the international oil benchmark was
trading 0.37% lower at USD 92.02 per barrel.

According to stock exchange data, foreign institutional
investors turned net buyers after many days as they bought shares worth Rs
1,864.79 crore on Thursday.