New Delhi, Jan 11 (IANS): Reliance Industries' market capitalisation crossed Rs 18 lakh crore on Thursday as the stock hit a record high.

RIL stock jumped 2.5 per cent crossing the Rs 2,700 mark and RIL market capitalisation jumped to Rs 18.36 lakh crore.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head, Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said Nifty traded sideways throughout the session to close marginally positive at 21,647 levels ahead of US inflation data and start of Q3FY24 earnings season from Thursday.

Among the sectors, oil and gas, consumer durables, auto, and PSU banks were top gainers on Thursday. Cement stocks witnessed fresh buying on the expectation of improved demand ahead of the general elections.

IT space is expected to be in focus on Friday as investors would react to TCS and Infosys Q3 results. Their management commentary and guidance would provide an insight into the future outlook for the sector, he said.

Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said after showing a sustainable upside from the lows on Wednesday, Nifty shifted into a consolidation with positive bias on Thursday and closed the day higher by 28 points. After opening with positive note, the market started to show gradual weakness amidst a range movement for better part of the session. Buying has emerged during intraday weakness of mid to later part of the session.