Sensex ends tad higher, IRCTC doubles gain on issue price

Mumbai: Indian equity markets surrendered early gains to end marginally higher on Monday amid a weak growth outlook and trade related optimism in global markets.

Auto and bank stocks gained over expectation of festival demand aiding the benchmark Sensex to finish in the green. It closed 87.39 points higher at 38,214.47, while the broader Nifty settled at 24.75 points higher at 11,329.80.

"Signs of progress in trade negotiations between the US and China had a ripple effect on the Indian market. However, market pared gains towards close due to tepid outlook on second quarter results and expectation of rise in CPI (retail) inflation," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) made a strong debut on the exchanges on Monday. On the BSE, IRCTC almost doubled gain on its issue price of Rs 320 to close at Rs 728.60 apiece.

The company recently made its Rs 645-crore initial public offering which was subscribed 112 times.

"It may be best of the returns we have witnessed in listing gains of recent IPOs. This is a very unique business model in India that is listed and also very robust numbers for the last three years," said Mustafa Nadeem, CEO, Epic Research.

Infosys lost over 3.68 per cent to finsh at Rs 785.65 apice. Bajaj Finance, Power Grid, Larsen and Toubro, Kotak Bank and HDFC settled up to 2 per cent lower.

Global markets were optimistic over hopes of a breakthrough in the US-China trade talks. US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that China will "immediately start buying" US agricultural products.

Trump also said "..I agreed not to increase Tariffs from 25 per cent to 30 per cent on October 15th. They will remain at 25 per cent. The relationship with China is very good" Trump said.