Stock market news: Indian benchmarks have once again closed in positive territory led by gains in banks, metals, pharma, and healthcare sectors.

The blue-chip S&P BSE Sensex ended 114.48 points higher at 73,852.94 and the broader NSE Nifty 50 ended 34.40 points higher at 22,402.40.

This is the fourth session starting last Friday where the indices have logged gains.

 "Bank Nifty as expected settled around the 48,200 strike for the April series. For next week the range is likely to be 47,000 to 49,000 as the short straddles of 48,000 continue to be the dominant position. A prudent setup could be taking a short straddle of 48,200 with a PE assuming bank nifty opens at the 48,000 to 48,100 level. On the upside one can exit at the breakeven," said Rahul Ghose, Founder & CEO, Hedged.in.

The positive momentum in blue-chip stocks has persisted for four consecutive sessions following a global rebound, which eased concerns over the Middle East conflict. Investors are now closely monitoring the earnings announcements from Nifty 50 constituents, including Hindustan Unilever and LTIMindtree.

Among the major sectoral indexes, ten out of thirteen ended the day in positive territory.

The metals sector led the gains, with the Nifty Metal surging 2.7 per cent to reach a record high, driven by increased global demand.

Financials also contributed to the upward movement, with the Nifty Finance index rising by 0.5 per cent. Top private lenders like HDFC Bank and Axis Bank saw modest gains ahead of their respective earnings releases.

According to Samrat Dasgupta, CEO at Esquire Capital Investment Advisors, company earnings are expected to be the primary driver of market movements over the next few sessions. Additionally, he noted that the metals sector is anticipated to perform well due to strong demand from China.

Shares of Nifty 50 constituents such as Hindalco, JSW Steel, and Tata Steel were among the top gainers, rising between 2.9 per cent and 4 per cent.

The small-cap and mid-cap segments, which are more focused on domestic markets, outperformed the benchmarks, posting gains of 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

(With Reuters inputs.)