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Niche sectors like shipping and defence stocks continue to see buying interest on the back of large order wins and strong order book, Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services said on Thursday.

Shipbuilding stocks were in focus as the main counters gained. Cochin Shipyard was at upper circuit of 20 per cent, Garden Reach Shipbuilders was up 10 per cent, while Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders was up 9 per cent.

The rally continued in paper and sugar stocks. Nifty has shown good momentum in September so far, and is inching closer towards its life highs where it could face some resistance.

"However, we expect outperformance in the broader market to continue with interest in niche sectors," Khemka said.

At close on Thursday, the BSE Sensex stood at 66,265.56, up 385 points, or 0.58 per cent, while the Nifty50 index settled at 19,727.05, up 116 points, or 0.59 per cent. 

Coal India, L&T, IndusInd Bank, SBI Life Insurance and SBI were among the top gainers on Thursday, while the losers were Tata Consumer Products, M&M, Britannia Industries, Sun Pharma and Infosys, said Vaibhav Vidwani, Research Analyst, Bonanza Portfolio.

Most of the sectoral indices were in green with Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Bank leading the way with gains of 1.22 per cent and 1.00 per cent, respectively.

In order to update Siemens AG's global IT environment and support Cloud-led digital transformation, HCL Tech and the German technology and high-tech industry behemoth have struck a multiyear managed public Cloud services deal, Vidwani said.