Key indices back in black

Mumbai: Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended their six-day losing run on Monday on the back of buying in banking, auto and power stocks amid mixed trends in global equities. The 30-share BSE Sensex rebounded by 180.22 points or 0.34 per cent to settle at 52,973.84 points in a see-saw trade.

The index opened higher and soared over 634 points to a day's high of 53,428.28 in the first half of the trade. However, profit booking in IT and select heavyweight counters capped the gains dragging the index down by around 800 points to a low of 52,632.48 points. The broader NSE Nifty went up by 60.15 points or 0.38 per cent to finish at 15,842.30, logging its first gain in seven sessions.

Sensex and Nifty tanked over five per cent in the previous six sessions due to heavy selling by FPIs over inflation concerns. "Autos & banks helped benchmark indices stay in the green as rising inflation and its impact on discretionary spending kept investors worried. The broader markets witnessed keen interest in companies likely to post good numbers during the first quarter of the current fiscal," said S Ranganathan, head (research) at LKP securities.

Ajit Mishra, V-P (research), Religare Broking Ltd, said: "Since markets are closely following global cues, the rebound in the US market is giving hope for some respite on the domestic front as well. Gains in HDFC twins, Kotak Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI helped indices end their losing streak."

"Continued selling by FIIs as they chase high yield US bonds restricts the Indian market to hold on to its pull-back rally, despite interest from the domestic investors. Weakness in global equities along with the unfavourable global cues led to heavy selling towards the closing hours, as the investors lacked the confidence to take forward their positions. The investors are currently on a risk deleveraging phase, hunting for safe-haven investments," adds Vinod Nair, head (research) at Geojit Financial Services.

"The recent spate of negative news have prompted investors to cut equity exposure. At one point, benchmark indices were going great guns, but profit-taking once again saw the markets pare most of their early gains to end marginally higher.

There are concerns that rising interest rates to quell higher inflation could hurt growth and may result in further correction," said Shrikant Chouhan, head (equity research-retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

HDFC rose by 1.96 per cent while HDFC Bank by 1.1 per cent. SBI advanced by 2.27 per cent, Kotak Bank by 1.83 per cent, IndusInd Bank by 1.61 per cent and ICICI Bank by 0.85 per cent. NTPC rose the most by 3.05 per cent among Sensex shares, followed by Bajaj Finance which gained 2.37 per cent. Among auto stocks, Maruti advanced by 2.14 per cent and M&M by 1.57 per cent. However, losses in IT and select FMCG counters restricted the rally in shares. Ultratech Cement was the biggest loser, declining by 3.01 per cent. Asian Paints dropped 2.15 per cent while ITC declined 1.78 per cent. IT major TCS dropped 1 per cent, Tech Mahindra by 1.22 per cent and Infosys by 0.94 per cent.