The Indian market ended a choppy session modestly higher on Thursday, shrugging off yesterday's serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.
Union home minister P Chidambaram confirmed the use of ammonium nitrate in the Wednesday terror attacks in Mumbai and said that the serial blasts across the city, which killed at least 21 people, were not attacks on the country's financial markets. He admitted that there was no intelligence inputs both at the national and state levels on the blasts.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex moved in the range of 18,449-18,803 before closing up 22 points or 0.12 percent at 18,618, while the broader Nifty index closed at 5,600, up 14 points or 0.26 percent from its previous close. The frontline indexes significantly pared their early gains in late trading due to bearish European markets.
The other Asian markets swung between gains and losses before closing on a mixed note Thursday, while the European averages such as France's CAC 40, Germany's DAX and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were down between 0.6 percent and 1.2 percent after Moody's warned that it may cut the United States' triple-A debt rating.
Moody's put its U.S. rating under review for a possible downgrade if the Treasury's debt ceiling isn't raised soon and the government defaults on a debt payment.
Investors also remained worried about the negative fallout from the euro zone debt crisis after Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings deeper into junk territory, citing the absence of a new and fully funded financing program for the country. Commodities such as copper and crude fluctuated, while gold rallied to a record high on safe-haven buying.
Back home, the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes rose 0.38 percent and 0.18 percent, respectively and the market breadth remained slightly positive, with gainers outpacing decliners by 1590 to 1219 shares on the BSE.
Rate-sensitive realty and banking stocks moved up sharply, but IT stocks continued to remain weak, limiting the upside. TCS fell 2.2 percent ahead of its quarterly results scheduled to be announced later in the day. Rival Infosys lost 1.6 percent and Wipro ended down 0.6 percent.
Reliance Communication, ONGC, NTPC, Hero Honda Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the other prominent decliners. Bajaj Auto fell 1.3 percent after reporting a 20.5 percent rise in standalone quarterly net profit for the period ended June.
Among those that gained, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, Jindal Steel, SBI, ICICI Bank, Cipla, Tata Motors and DLF closed up by 1-3 percent.
Shares of Motherson Sumi Systems climbed 3.4 percent after the auto component maker said it would buy an 80 percent stake in Germany's Peguform Group for an undisclosed sum. Bhuwalka Steel Industries jumped 8.4 percent after the company fixed July 22 as the record date for a liberal 1:1 bonus issue.
Yes Bank rose 2.4 percent after the private sector lender unveiled plans to expand its presence in Haryana. South Indian Bank added a percent after reporting a 41 percent jump in first-quarter net profit. Repro India soared 10.5 percent on posting robust earnings.
Steel Authority of India eased half a percent after it came under an attack from the Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma for delaying capacity expansion plans. Compact Disc India slumped 6.3 percent after the company decided not to proceed with its delisting process amid the ongoing legal dispute with HSBC Bank.
Meanwhile, government data released today showed that India's headline inflation rose to 9.44 percent in June, driven by higher fuel and manufactured products, which may prompt the central bank to raise key rates by at least 25 basis points in its upcoming quarterly review of credit policy on July 26.
Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 9.06 per cent in May and it was 10.25 percent in June last year. India's chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu clarified that he didn't hint at a rate pause by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.