Markets gain, ignore China glitches

Mumbai: The Indian stock markets outperformed global bourses on the first day of December F&O series, following buying spree on select sectors including banks, metal and capital goods.

Expectation of passage of GST bill in the present winter session is raising investors are taking fresh position even as the global markets turned red as the sell off seen in the Chinese brokerages as the authorities started probing for violations of trade rules.

On the macro-economic front, the next week will be very crucial for markets as GDP data is expected to be release beside RBI to release monetary policy on December 1, though the investors are not expecting any Christmas gifts from Raghuram Rajan. The sensex closed higher by 170 points at 26,128 and Nifty up 59 points to close at 7,943.

The broader markets also gained with midcap and smallcap indices raising between 0.4-05 per cent. On the sectoral front, financials, capital goods and metals sectors rallied up to 2 per cent. From banks pack, PSU banks' shares in the limelight reaching up to 8 per cent as the news spread that the government is planning to set up a committee to reduce NPAs.

While OBC, BoB, UBI and Syndicate Bank rallied over 5 per cent, SBI gained up to 3 per cent as its subsidiary plans to set up real estate portfolio. From metal sector, Hindalco, Vedanta and Tata Steel gained up to 3 per cent as the coper prices started raising owing to buying demand.

The gainers: Hindalco Industries, up 3.26 per cent at Rs 77.50; State Bank of India (SBI), up 2.80 per cent at Rs 249.55; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 2.23 per cent at Rs 1,363.80; ICICI Bank, up 1.97 per cent at Rs 269.60; and Vedanta, up 1.72 per cent at Rs 91.85.

The losers: Tata Motors, down 1.32 per cent at Rs 417.55; Lupin, down 1.24 per cent at Rs 1,814.65; Reliance Industries, down 0.88 per cent at Rs 979.05; Maruti Suzuki, down 0.68 per cent at Rs 4,580.10; and Bajaj Auto, down 0.55 per cent at Rs 2,448.85.