Sensex Rises 368 Points; Nifty Ends Above 23,700

(RTTNews) - Indian shares eked out modest gains on Wednesday even as world markets remained shut for the New Year holiday.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex ended the first trading day of 2025 up 368.40 points, or 0.41 percent, at 78,507.41.

The broader NSE Nifty index ended at 23,742.90, up 98.10 points, or 0.41 percent, from its previous close.

Second-line stocks surged, with the mid-cap and small-cap indexes on the BSE closing up half a percent and 1 percent, respectively. The market breadth remained positive, with 2,741 stocks advancing on the BSE against 1,241 declines, while 89 stocks closed unchanged.

Auto stocks rallied, with Maruti Suzuki India climbing 3 percent after the car maker reported a 30 percent rise in total sales in December 2024.Tata Motors rose 1.3 percent and Mahindra & Mahindra added 2.4 percent.

Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finance both rose around 2 percent while ONGC, Adani Ports, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Hindalco all fell around 1 percent.

State-run SJVN jumped 6.3 percent as it signed a pact with the Bihar government to develop the 1,000 MW Hathidah Durgawati Pumped Storage Project and other similar projects.

MOIL soared 4.4 percent after the manganese ore mining company revised the prices of manganese ore, effective January 1, 2025.

Ireda gained 2.7 percent after a Q3 business update.