Stock market updates: Domestic equity markets staged a smart recovery in the fag end of the session, lifted mainly by metal and FMCG stocks, to end mixed on Monday even as losses in the banking counters capped gains. Among the headline indices, the BSE barometer S&P BSE Sensex settled the day at 48,718.5 levels, down 64 points or 0.13 per cent. The index hit a low of 48,028 in the opening deals but rose swiftly through the day to touch a high of 48,863 in late noon deals.
On the NSE, the Nifty50 index closed at 14,634 levels, up 3 points or 0.02 per cent, after hitting an intra-day high of 14,674.
SBI Life (up over 5 per cent) settled the day as the top Nifty gainer, trailed by Bharti Airtel, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, HUL, Asian Paints, and Maruti Suzuki. On the downside, Titan (down 4.5 per cent) was leading the list of losers, followed by IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, BPCL, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and State Bank of India (SBI).
Despite weakness in the benchmarks, the overall market strength favoured bulls amid outperformance in the broader markets. The S&P BSE SmallCap index, for instance, ended 1.6 per cent higher driven by sugar stocks, Tata Steel BSL, Tata Metaliks, and Reliance Infrastructure. All these stocks gained between 15 per cent and 20 per cent.
The S&P BSE MidCap index, on the other hand, settled 0.05 per cent higher.
As regards sectoral indices, the Nifty Metal index rallied 2 per cent today, followed by the Nifty FMCG index, up 1 per cent. On the downside, the Nifty Bank index slipped 0.7 per cent on the NSE.
Global markets
With China, Japan and Britain closed for public holidays, volumes were thin and Asian shares got off to a slow start, with most markets slipping into the red. South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.66 per cent while Australia's S&P/ASX200 index up 0.04 per cent.
European stocks drifted higher on Monday after strong euro zone factory activity and German retail sales data highlighted a quick rebound in economic growth, with a largely buoyant earnings season adding to the upbeat mood.
Euro zone stocks index that includes markets in continental Europe rose 0.6 per cent, while the German DAX was up 0.8 per cent and France's CAC 40 gained 0.6 per cent.
(With inputs from Reuters)