Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended marginally higher on Thursday. Index made a positive start with gains of around half a percent, following broadly positive cues from other Asian markets. Soon, index gained traction and continued its firm trade for most part of the session as drop in crude oil prices and hectic buying in banking and auto stocks. Further, traders got comfort, after India and the United States (US) reviewed the progress on an interim bilateral trade agreement during the two-day ministerial meeting. However, in last hour of the session, Nifty trimmed most of its gains on account of profit booking at higher level and ended tad above 24,050 mark.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Auto, FMCG and Realty stocks, while selling was witnessed in Metal, Oil & Gas and IT. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Samvardhana Motherson International, InterGlobe Aviation and Oracle Financial Services Software. On the other hand, the top losers were Bandhan Bank, National Aluminium Company and Hindustan Zinc. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 24900 - 25100 calls and 23900 - 24100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
