Breaking a four-day losing streak, key Indian equity indices on Monday closed in the green with marginal gains as investors traded with caution ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) two-day policy review meet starting Tuesday.According to market observers, a surge in stocks of IT major Infosys kept market sentiments buoyed. However, profit booking in banking and auto stocks capped gains.On a closing basis, the wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) inched up 5.95 points or 0.06 per cent to 10,127.75 points.The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE closed at 32,869.72 points -- up 36.78 points or 0.11 per cent -- from Friday's close.The BSE market breadth was bearish -- 1,604 declines and 1,088 advances."Indian markets ended flat in trade. Focus now shifts to RBI's monetary policy meeting after the upbeat GDP (gross domestic product) numbers for the September quarter failed to cheer investors. The central bank's two-day policy meet is scheduled to begin on Tuesday," Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told IANS. According to Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities, markets ended with marginal gains on Monday after four consecutive sessions of losses."Broad market indices like the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices ended with bigger losses, thereby underperforming the main indices," Jasani told IANS.
"Technically, while the Nifty has bounced back marginally, the index remains in a short term downtrend," Jasani added.In the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index closed lower by 0.09 per cent and the small-cap index by 0.52 per cent.On the currency front, the rupee strengthened by 9-10 paise to close at 64.37-38 against the US dollar from its last week's close at 64.47.Provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 333.59 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought stocks worth Rs 776.18 crore.Sector-wise, the S&P BSE IT index gained by 145.14 points, metal index by 68.85 points and Teck (technology, media and entertainment) index by 64.81 points.On the other hand, the S&P BSE banking index declined by 85.91 points, auto index by 53.20 points and energy index by 22.29 points.Major Sensex gainers on Monday were: Infosys, up 2.80 per cent at Rs 985.30; Hindustan Unilever, up 1.37 per cent at Rs 1,269.50; HDFC, up 1.25 per cent at Rs 1,680; Tata Motors, up 1.06 per cent at Rs 403.40; and Tata Steel, up 1.03 per cent at Rs 687.70.Major Sensex losers were: Coal India, down 2.09 per cent at Rs 266.55; Maruti Suzuki, down 1.10 per cent at Rs 8,512.90; Asian Paints, down 1.02 per cent at Rs 1,124.50; Sun Pharma, down 0.95 per cent at Rs 520.95; and Reliance Industries, down 0.92 per cent at Rs 901.50.