Market at Close | Bharti Airtel, Cipla lead rally as Sensex jumps 790 points, Nifty tops 23,650

The equity benchmark indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty ended higher for the second consecutive session on Thursday (May 145), led by gains in banking, pharma and metal stocks, while the Nifty closed above the 23,650 mark.The Sensex rose 790 points to close at 75,399, while the Nifty gained 277 points to settle at 23,690. The Nifty Bank index advanced 673 points to 54,129, and the Midcap index climbed 675 points to 60,840. Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Cipla were among the top contributors to the Nifty’s gains.

From the Sensex basket, Adani Enterprises Ltd, Cipla Ltd, Bharti Airtel Ltd, Eternal Ltd, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd and Hindalco Industries Ltd were the major gainers. Infosys Ltd, Tech Mahindra Ltd, HCL Technologies Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Axis Bank Ltd were the biggest laggards.
Also Read: Stock Crash: Zaggle shares fall most since listing after 17% drop on Q4 margin contraction
All sectoral indices ended in the green except Nifty IT, which declined for the fourth straight session. Nifty Pharma and Metal emerged as the top-performing sectoral indices. The rupee hit a record intraday low of 95.96 against the US dollar.Cipla extended gains and rose more than 8% after the company gave a positive outlook on its US business. Bharti Airtel gained over 5% despite reporting weak quarterly results. Banking stocks recovered sharply following reports that the government may reduce taxes on foreign bond investments.

Among individual stocks, NLC India surged more than 14% after its Q4 net profit nearly tripled to ₹1,394 crore. Adani Enterprises jumped 8% after nearly 60 lakh shares worth ₹1,435 crore changed hands in a block deal. Kaynes Technology declined 19% after missing its guidance in the March quarter and following a downgrade by JPMorgan.

Also Read: Zydus Life Share Buyback: All you need to know as a shareholder

Sugar stocks ended lower after the government banned sugar exports till September 2026. Dhampur Sugar fell 7%. Market breadth remained neutral with the NSE advance-decline ratio at 1:1.