Markets close with half a per cent gain; Sensex ends above 60,000 & Nifty closes below 17,900

The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 381.23 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 60,059.06. The Nifty 50 index added 104.85 points, or 0.59 per cent, to 17,895.20. The Nifty Bank remained almost flat and added just 22.05 points, or 0.06 per cent, to close at 37,775.25.

In the broader markets, the BSE MidCap index ended 0.15 per cent higher and the BSE SmallCap index added 0.83 per cent. Both the indices hit a record high of 25,956.09 and 29,358.02, respectively, earlier today.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 1870 shares rose and 1431 shares fell. On the Nifty 50 at the NSE, 23 shares advanced and 27 shares declined. The top five gainers on Nifty were Reliance Industries (up 3.76 per cent), Wipro (up 2.96 per cent), Infosys (up 1.94 per cent), Tata Motors (up 1.67 per cent) and Tech Mahindra (up 1.61 per cent). The top five losers were Coal India (down 1.57 per cent), SBI Life (down 1.51 per cent), NTPC (down 1.30 per cent), Maruti (down 1.11 per cent) and Shree Cement (down 1.08 per cent).

COVID-19 Update

Total COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide were at 236,748,936 with 4,834,268 deaths. India reported 240,221 active cases of COVID-19 infection and 450,127 deaths, data showed.

The S&P BSE Sensex advanced 381.23 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 60,059.06.

The RBI's six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) at its meeting today decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 4 per cent. The reverse repo rate under the LAF remains unchanged at 3.35 per cent and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the bank rate at 4.25 per cent.

The MPC also decided to continue with the accommodative stance as long as necessary to revive and sustain growth on a durable basis and continue to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the economy while ensuring that inflation remains within the target going forward. These decisions are in consonance to achieve the medium-term target for CPI inflation of 4 per cent within a band of +/- 2 per cent, RBI said.

Activity in China's services sector returned to growth in September as a major COVID-19 outbreak in the eastern province of Jiangsu receded, a private-sector survey showed on October 8, 2021. The Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 53.4 from 46.7 in August.