The Indian equity indices ended flat on Monday, with buying in auto and metal stocks offset by late-session profit booking in IT heavyweights.
The domestic market opened strong, buoyed by GST reforms, optimism around India-US relations, and rate cuts announced by major automakers. The Sensex surged nearly 400 points in intraday trade before losing momentum in the closing hours.
The Sensex closed at 80,787.30, up 76.54 points (0.09%), after opening at 80,904.40 against the previous close of 80,710.76. It touched an intraday high of 81,171.38. The Nifty settled at 24,773.15, up 32.15 points (0.13%).
“The domestic market failed to sustain its early gains as a late-session sell-off reflected the prevailing ‘buy-on-dips, sell-on-rallies’ strategy, highlighting investor caution,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Auto and ancillary stocks rallied on expectations of a demand revival following GST rate cuts, while IT stocks weakened amid global uncertainties. Global sentiment improved after soft US jobs data raised hopes of a US Fed rate cut in September, Nair added.
Among Sensex gainers were Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Adani Airports, Bajaj Finserv, Ultratech Cement, Tata Steel, HDFC Bank, and BEL. Losers included Trent, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, PowerGrid, TCS, Sun Pharma, L&T, NTPC, and Bharti Airtel.
Sectorally, most indices closed in the green. Nifty Auto surged 868.60 points (3.30%), Nifty Financial Services rose 53 points (0.21%), and Nifty Bank added 72 points (0.13%). In contrast, Nifty IT fell 325 points (0.94%) due to persistent selling.
Broader indices also edged higher, with Nifty Small Cap 100 up 29 points (0.16%), Nifty Midcap 100 gaining 285 points (0.50%), and Nifty 100 rising 45 points (0.18%).
-IANS
