BENGALURU: Indian shares closed on Thursday at a more than one-month high, led by gains in banks and power stocks, with a technical breakout lending support.

The Nifty 50 index settled 0.59% higher at 19,727.05, while the S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.58% to 66,265.56.

The 19,600 range that has been holding for a month was broken “convincingly” and has triggered some short-covering, said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

“The sentiments may have shifted after trading in a (tight) range for the whole of August … Everybody believes we are closer to the end of rate hiking cycle.”

The benchmark index also caught up with the moves in small and mid-cap stocks, which rose 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively.

Some large-cap stocks have started moving in tandem with small- and mid-caps, which is evident in Nifty’s recent move, James said.

Indian shares advance on hopes of Fed rate pause, China stimulus

India’s blue-chips, the Nifty 50 and the Sensex extended gains for the fifth straight session on Thursday, recovering nearly 2.5% from the near 2-month lows hit late August.

Small- and mid-cap stocks extended their record run on Thursday, and have risen about 31% and 28%, respectively, so far in the year, compared with the 8% gains in benchmark indexes.

“While mid-cap and small-cap stocks come with higher volatility and risk, they also offer the potential for higher returns, which attracts investors the most,” said Rahul Sharma, head of technical research at Equity99.

Ten of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with Nifty Realty gaining 1.48%, public sector enterprise rising 1.46% and banks gaining 1%.

Among individual stocks, Coal India rose 7.1%, highest gainer in the Nifty 50 index, on expectations of higher demand.

Larsen & Tourbo hit a record high on a report that it is likely to win an order worth $2.9 billion from Saudi Aramco.