Special trading session: Benchmark indices NSE Nifty 50 and S&P BSE Sensex closed higher in a special trading session held on Saturday, organised by stock exchanges to assess the efficacy of failsafe systems for equity trading. Blue-chip indexes surged to fresh record highs, propelled by gains in metal stocks.

The stock market operated in two special sessions, spanning from 9:15 am to 10:00 am from the primary site, and then from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm from a designated disaster recovery site. This initiative aimed to evaluate the response of exchange systems in the event of unforeseen disruptions.

Following a major trading outage in February 2021 due to a telecom glitch, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) scrutinised the NSE and BSE stock exchanges. During the outage, the bourses failed to migrate to the disaster recovery site, prompting regulatory intervention.

The benchmark NSE Nifty 50 concluded the session with a gain of 0.18 per cent at 22,378.40, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose by 0.08 per cent to 73,806.15, marking new record highs for the second consecutive day.

Abhijit Bhave, CEO and managing director of Equirus Wealth, said, "Strong economic fundamentals and steady earnings growth indicate that the momentum in domestic equities remains intact and could sustain further."

India's economy expanded at a faster-than-expected rate of 8.4 per cent in the October-December quarter, according to data released post-market hours on Thursday. Twelve of the 13 major sectors witnessed advances during Saturday's session.

The broader small-cap and mid-cap indices registered gains of 0.69 per cent and 0.74 per cent, respectively, outperforming blue-chip stocks. These segments had previously underperformed blue chips over the past week, amid concerns regarding fund flows.

Nifty Metal surged by 1.58 per cent, led by Tata Steel, which recorded a gain of 3.60 per cent after witnessing approximately 6.5 per cent growth in block deals on Friday.

Hero MotoCorp witnessed a 1.57 per cent increase following an 18.75 per cent year-on-year growth in total sales in February.

Tata Steel and Hero MotoCorp emerged as the top two gainers in the Nifty 50 index by percentage. Normal trading activities will resume on Monday.

(With Reuters inputs.)