Broadly positive global cues, along with value buying and expectations of firm quarterly earnings, lifted the key Indian equity indices on Monday.According to market observers, healthy buying was witnessed in automobile, banking and consumer durable stocks.However, gains were capped due to higher crude oil prices and caution over the upcoming assembly polls in Karnataka.Index-wise, the broader Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed at 10,715.50 points -- up 97.25 points or 0.92 per cent -- from its previous close.Similarly, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) made gains during the day's trade session. The Sensex opened at 34,983.59 points, closed at 35,208.14 points -- up 292.76 points or 0.84 per cent -- from its previous session's close.It touched a high of 35,259.81 points and a low of 34,977.74 points during the intra-day trade.The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,405 advances and 1,272 declines. On NSE, too, the market was positive during intra-day trade.In the broader market segment, the S&P BSE mid-cap closed 0.55 per cent higher from its previous close, while the S&P BSE small cap inched up by 0.56 per cent."Markets rallied on Monday as the Nifty found support around the 10,635 points levels.
Monday's gains came after three sessions of losses," said Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities, adding that, "Technically, with the Nifty bouncing back after three sessions of losses, the bulls seem to have made a comeback.""The rally came on the back of listless US jobs data on Friday as it eased fears of faster rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve," Jasani told IANS.Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services said: "Market gained momentum as yield slid after RBIs open market operation, while rupee weakened further due to higher oil prices. PSU banks outperformed in expectation of stability in govt bond yield with RBIs intervention.""Results are largely in line with expectation while volatility in rupee and yield and apprehensions about Karnataka election impacting the pace of rally. Additionally, investor's sentiment improved after a tepid US job data which may slow down FEDs rate hike trajectory."
On the currency front, the Indian rupee weakened by 27 paise to 67.14 against the US dollar from its previous close at 66.87 per greenback.In terms of investments, provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors sold scrips worth Rs 635.24 crore, while the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 1,037.23 crore.Sector-wise, the S&P BSE auto index surged by 359.53 points, the consumer durable stocks edged-up by 323.57 points and the banking stocks rose by 320.80 points.On the other hand, the S&P BSE healthcare and IT indices were the only two which fell today. The S&P BSE healthcare index fell by 73.32 points while IT index ended a tad lower, by 1.45 points.The major gainers on the Sensex during the day were Mahindra and Mahindra, up 3.68 per cent at Rs 885.60; Axis Bank, up 2.82 per cent at Rs 534.95; Tata Steel, up 2.52 per cent at Rs 595.95; ICICI Bank, up 2.30 per cent at Rs 289.40; and State Bank of India, up 1.88 per cent at Rs 246.50 per share.The top losers were Dr Reddy's Lab, down 1.75 per cent at Rs 2,068.85; Tata Consultancy Services, down 1.53 per cent at Rs 3,427.70; Coal India, down 1.51 per cent at Rs 267.65; Sun Pharma, down 1.00 per cent at Rs 513.55; and HDFC Bank, down 0.41 per cent at Rs 1,979.75 per share.