Sensex settles above 39000 mark

Extending their northbound journey for fifth straight session, Indian equity benchmarks ended Thursday's session with a gain of over a percent.

Hectic buying activity which took place during second half of the day mainly helped markets to end the session near intraday high levels, with Sensex settling above 39,000 mark. After cautious start, market took some support with Finance Minister Shri Nirmala Sitharaman's statement that more reforms are on the anvil this fiscal to boost growth as fresh economic data and subdued corporate earnings point to a deeper economic downturn. Her statement that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi's vision of making India a $5-trillion economy and a global economic powerhouse by 2024-25 is 'challenging' but 'realisable'.

Investors also cheered with a report that the digital payment system that has been developed in India not only allows big tech companies to participate in it but also has convenience, ease of use, low cost and financial inclusion.

The BSE Sensex ended at 39052.06, up by 453.07 points or 1.17%. The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index rose 1.81%, while Small cap index was up by 0.91%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 3.19%, Consumer Discretionary Goods & Services up by 1.88%, FMCG up by 1.35% and Energy up by 1.34%, while Telecom down by 0.20% was the lone losing index on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Yes Bank up by 15.31%, Tata Motors - DVR up by 11.35%, Tata Motors up by 10.65%, Indusind Bank up by 5.14% and SBI up by 3.63%. On the flip side, HCL Technologies down by 0.70%, TCS down by 0.70%, Power Grid down by 0.65%, Vedanta down by 0.63% and ONGC down by 0.42% were the top losers.