Sensex closes 115 points higher, Nifty ends at 12,259

The BSE Sensex closed at 41,673.92 on Thursday (December 19) after gaining 115 points or 0.28 percent, while the Nifty ended at 12,259.70, advancing 38 points, or 0.31 percent. 

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices underperformed the benchmark, gaining 0.17 percent and 0.06 percentrespectively. Among the sectors, BSE Telecom gained 2 percent and BSE Energy advanced 1.37 percent. The BSE Auto and IT packs advanced 1.05 percent each.

Eicher Motors, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp and Bharti Infratel were among the top gainers, while Vedanta, Grasim Industries, Adani Ports, Sun Pharma, HDFC, UltraTech Cement, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finserv and UPL were among the prominent losers. A total of 1,253 shares ended higher while 1,237 closed lower on the BSE.

Notably, the benchmark indices opened on a flat note on Thursday (December 19). At 9:15 am, the Sensex was up 21.54 points or 0.05% at 41580.11, and the Nifty up 1.75 points or 0.01% at 12,223.40. Major gainers on the Indices during the opening included M&M, Asian Paints, HDFC bank and Dr Reddy's Lab, TCS, while Tata Steel, Tata Power, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel were the top losers.

On Wednesday (December 18), Indian stock market continued to reap benefits from supportive global markets and strong inflow of foreign funds. The Sensex hit an all-time high of 41,615 while the Nifty touched a fresh high of 12,238 earlier in the day. Sensex closed 206.40 points higher at 41,558.57. The Nifty closed at 12,221.65, advancing by 56.65 points.