Stock Market LIVE Updates: GIFT Nifty indicates a firm opening; US, Asian markets flat

Benchmark equity indices ended higher for a third consecutive session on August 18, helped by cooling oil prices following Trump-Putin talks, India’s sovereign rating upgrades by S&P and expectation of GST rate rationalisation by October.

At close, the Sensex was up 676.09 points or 0.84 percent at 81,273.75, and the Nifty was up 251.20 points or 1.02 percent at 24,882.50. The BSE midcap index gained a percent and the smallcap index added 1.4 percent.

Maruti Suzuki, Nestle, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto were among biggest gainers on the Nifty, while losers were ITC, Tech Mahindra, Eternal, L&T, NTPC.

Except IT, media and power, all other sectors ended in the green with the Auto index up 4 percent, consumer durable index up 3 percent, realty up 2 percent, while metal, FMCG, telecom private bank up 1-2 percent.