Sensex and Nifty end with modest gains

Indian equity benchmark indices finished with modest gains on Monday, extending their winning streak to second consecutive session. The session began with a positive note for the markets, as traders took encouragement from Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) report which showed that India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by US$ 4.239 billion to hit a record high of US$ 437.833 billion as on October 4, 2019.

Some comfort also came in with a report that a high-level panel constituted by the government to suggest measures to augment GST revenue collection will hold its first meeting on October 15. Sentiments were also buoyed as India and China decided to set up a ministerial-level mechanism to resolve issues relating to trade, investment and services.

In the afternoon, the indices were trading at intraday high points as local investors cheered a monthly survey report which showed that Wholesale prices based inflation eased to 0.33 per cent in September, as against 1.08 per cent in August due to fall in prices of non-food articles. The annual rate of inflation, based on monthly WPI, was at 5.22 per cent in September 2018.

Meanwhile, the traders took some support from a statement given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Rs. 25 lakh crore will be spent for infrastructural development in the villages across the country, in a big boost to strengthen rural infrastructure. However, markets trimmed most of their initial gains, as anxiety remained among traders with World Bank’s report that after a broad-based deceleration in the initial quarters of this fiscal, India’s growth rate is projected to fall to 6 per cent in 2019-20, which was the sharpest downward revision of its growth projections for South Asian countries.

The BSE Sensex ended at 38,200.01, up by 72.93 points or 0.19 per cent. The broader indices ended in green; the BSE Mid cap index gained 0.39 per cent, while Small cap index was up by 0.14 per cent.

The top gainers on the Sensex were ONGC up by 5.19 per cent, Tata Motors up by 4.99 per cent, Tata Motors - DVR up by 4.74 per cent, Bharti Airtel up by 2.86 per cent and IndusInd Bank was up by 2.15 per cent.

On the flip side, top losers on Sensex were - Infosys down by 3.60 per cent, Bajaj Finance down by 2.57 per cent, Power Grid down by 1.24 per cent, Larsen & Toubro down by 0.45 per cent and Kotak Mahindra Bank was down by 0.32 per cent.