Benchmark share indices reversed intra-day losses to end marginally higher on Monday, shrugging off weak global cues, led by gains in oil and gas shares after global crude oil prices eased.
The benchmark indices which witnessed a gap down opening. However, they ended flat. The BSE benchmark index- Sensex provisionally closed at 16,003 up 38 points and the 50-share Nifty shut shop at 4,856, up 15 points.
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(Updated at 1440 hours)
The markets have recovered most of the losses in the late noon deals on the back of buying visible in the captal goods, auto and banking stocks. But they continue to trade in the negative territory.
The Sensex is down 45 points at 15,926 and the 50-share Nifty has shed 11 points to 4,830. Earlier in the day, the Sensex touched the intra-day low of 15,749.
Meanwhile, the Asian markets ended on an extremely weak note. The Hang Seng slipped 2% to close at 18,185, Shanghai Composite has plunged nearly 3% to 2,308 and the Nikkei also shed 1.7% to shut shop at 8,295 levels.
The European markets are trading on a flat note. The CAC40 and DAX are trading marginally higher.
Back home, Gail India is the top loser among the Sensex stocks, down 3.3% to Rs 320. Bharti Airtel, Tata Power, DLF, HUL, Jindal Steel, Sterlite Industries, ITC and Cipla are also among the losers. On the other hand, ONGC is trading higher by 3% at Rs 254. It is followed by Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Mahindra and Mahindra and State Bank of India are also among the gainers.
On the sectoral front, the rate sensitive sectors such as capital goods, bankex and auto indices are among the top gainers. They witnessed a rebound after the Reserve Bank today hinted at cut in interest rates, saying moderation in inflation due to lower economic growth and cooling global oil prices provide room for easing monetary policy. Oil & gas index was also trading higher.
At the same time, Consumer durables, FMCG, healthcare, power,metal and IT indices are trading in the red.
Among the indvidual stocks, Shares of Kishore Biyani promoted Future Group companies – Future Capital Holdings (FCH) and Pantaloon Retail - have rallied more than 6% each in otherwise weak market, after the board of both these companies have approved a 40% stake sale in FCH to U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC at a price of Rs 162 per share.
Bajaj Auto has dipped 3% to Rs 1,454, its lowest level since January 2012, after reporting a negative 2% year-on-year growth in vehicle sales to 352,219 units in May due to lower commercial vehicle (CV) sales and nil exports to Sri Lanka. The company had sold a total 358,849 units in the same month of previous year.
The broader markets are also trading in the red. The BSE mid-cap index is down 32 points at 5,789 and the small-cap index is down 24 points at 6,170.