Sensex revisits 74K; Nifty climbs 168 points

Rising for the fifth straight session, equity benchmark Sensex rallied nearly 500 points to reclaim the 74,000 mark while the Nifty closed above the 22,550 level on Thursday, driven by heavy buying in banking, financial and metal stocks.

Recovering after a sell-off in early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 486.50 points or 0.66 per cent to settle at 74,339.44.

During the day, it surged 718.31 points or 0.97 per cent to 74,571.25.

The NSE Nifty advanced 167.95 points or 0.75 per cent to 22,570.35.

From the Sensex basket, Axis Bank jumped 6 per cent after the company reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,599 crore during the March 2024 quarter.

State Bank of India, NTPC, Nestle, Sun Pharma, JSW Steel, ITC, Mahindra & Mahindra and HCL Technologies were among the other major gainers.

Kotak Mahindra Bank tanked 10.85 per cent after the RBI barred the company from onboarding customers online and issuing credit cards.

Cracking down on repeated non-compliance with IT norms, the RBI on Wednesday barred Kotak Mahindra Bank from onboarding new customers through its online and mobile banking channels and issuing fresh credit cards with immediate effect after the regulator found "serious deficiencies" in the lender's IT risk management.

Hindustan Unilever, Titan, Bajaj Finance, Maruti and Asian Paints were the other laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Tokyo settled lower while Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the positive territory.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.06 per cent to $88.07 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,511.74 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.