Mumbai: Extending gains for the second straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex Monday surged about 132 points to end at 34,865.10 on emergence of buying in IT stocks, even as headwinds in form of ongoing global trade tiff and rising crude prices continued to hit investors sentiments.
The NSE index Nifty gained 40 points to close at 10,512.50. Investors mood remained cautious due to fresh weakness in the rupee on rising crude oil prices and a subdued trend at other Asian markets, following worries over Sino-US trade dispute, possible slowdown in the Chinese economy and signs of tighter monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve.
“Market traded in a range bound manner and ended on a positive note. However negative sentiments over a slowing world economy due to trade war and rising cost of funds is continuing to impact the market,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.
The rupee again breached the 74-mark against the US dollar to quote at 74.05 (intra-day) in the forex market. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was trading higher by 0.98 per cent, to USD 81.79 per barrel. “Rupee continued to be under pressure as oil prices started to move-up due to sudden spurt in tension between US & Saudi Arabia. Q2 result season began on a positive note, with Index heavy weights like IT and FMCG delivering in-line with expectation,” Nair said.
Meanwhile, inflation based on wholesale prices rose to a two-month high of 5.13 per cent in September, mainly due to hardening of food prices and rise in cost of petrol and diesel, according to data released on Monday. Industrial production slipped to a three-month low of 4.3 per cent in August, while retail inflation up marginally to 3.77 per cent in September, data released by Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday.
“September WPI inflation came in at 5.13 per cent versus expectations of 5.00 per cent and 4.53 per cent in the previous month, suggesting moderate inflationary pressures in the pipeline relative to headline consumer inflation,” Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management, said.
The 30-share barometer, which had gained 732.47 points, its biggest single day gain in 19 months on Friday, reclaimed the 35,000-mark to hit a high of 35,008.65 at the outset on sustained buying by DIIs but turned choppy and slipped into negative zone to touch a low of 34,559.98.
Finally, it settled 131.52 points, or 0.38 per cent, higher at 34,865.10, largely supported by gains in healthcare and information technology space. On similar lines, the NSE Nifty was up by 40 points, or 0.38 per cent, at 10,512.50. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,526.30-10,410.15.
Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,287 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 1,322 crore on Friday, as per provisional data. Infosys gains stood at 2.95 per cent ahead of Q2 earnings tomorrow, the most for a Sensex component, followed by ITC at 2.51 per cent.
Other gainers that supported the key indices include ONGC, TCS, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Wipro, RIL, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and NTPC, rising by up to 1.78 per cent. (PTI)
