Sensex gains 107 points, Nifty reclaims 25,000 amid easing oil prices & buying in bank stocks

Mumbai, Nov. 9 -- Market benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended higher on Monday amid a correction in crude oil prices and buying in blue-chip bank and financial stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 107.25 points, or 0.13 per cent, to settle at 81,106.65. The 50-share NSE Nifty rose 58.25 points, or 0.23 per cent, to close at 25,044.65.

Among the Sensex firms, State Bank of India, Trent, Larsen & Toubro, NTPC, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank were among the major winners. In contrast, HCL Tech, Tata Steel, UltraTech Cement and Bajaj Finance were among the major laggards.

Last week, the BSE benchmark soared 6,568.49 points, or 8.82 per cent, and the Nifty jumped 1,977.25 points, or 8.57 per cent.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, declined 1.04 per cent to $97.46 per barrel.

"Indian equities traded range-bound with a positive bias, as intermittent profit-booking following the recent rally capped gains. Weakness in IT and metal stocks also weighed on the benchmarks.

The BSE MidCap Select index was up 0.34 per cent and the SmallCap Select index ended marginally higher by 0.07 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, PSU Bank jumped 3.76 per cent, Bankex 1.41 per cent, Top 10 Banks 1.14 per cent, Healthcare 1.10 per cent, Pvt Banks index 0.85 per cent, Financial Services 0.73 per cent and Power 0.57 per cent. Telecom, IT, Focused IT, Metal, Commodities and FMCG were among the laggards.

Equity markets will remain closed on Tuesday, November 10, on account of Diwali-Balipratipada.

In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 and Shanghai's SSE Composite index ended higher & South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index settled lower. Markets in Europe were trading in positive territory in mid-session deals. The US equity markets ended mostly higher on Friday.

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower in the special Diwali Muhurat trading session on Sunday amid profit-taking after a seven-day rally.

After starting the special trading session to mark the beginning of the Hindu calendar Samvat 2083 on a bullish note, the BSE benchmark Sensex failed to sustain the rally. The barometer dipped 28.62 points, or 0.04 per cent, to settle at 80,999.40.

The Nifty declined 43.95 points, or 0.18 per cent, to close at 24,986.40 after a positive beginning.

Muhurat trading is a symbolic market session held on Diwali, which also marks the beginning of the new Hindu calendar year. Unlike regular trading days, when equity markets operate from 9:15 am to 3:30 pm, Muhurat trading runs for a shorter period.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.