Sensex rises 277 points to close at 5-month high; Rs too up 17 paise

Mumbai: Stock markets on Monday surged 0.78 per cent to close at a more than five-month high of 35,934.72 following strong global cues and investors set aside concern about escalating trade tensions to focus instead on the upcoming earnings season.
The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied for the second day by rising 276.86 points or 0.78 per cent to settle at 35,934.72, the highest closing level since January 31, when it had closed at 35,965.02. The broader NSE Nifty closed above the 10,800 level by gaining 80.25 points or 0.74 per cent to 10,852.90, the highest closing since June 13, 2018, when it ended at 10,856.70. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries rose by 1.96 per cent to Rs 995.65 while IT major Infosys gained 1.14 per cent at Rs 1,299.15, helping the Sensex to post gains for the second day.
The rupee also remained strong. It opened higher by 29 paise at 68.58 and hovered in a range of 68.78 and 68.57 before ending at 68.70, up 17 paise.
Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services said: “Change in focus to upcoming quarter earnings and appreciation in rupee led the market to rally with mid and small cap outperformance. Q1 FY19 result season will kick start from Tuesday with IT heavyweight and investors are keen on upcoming data of CPI inflation and IIP this week to get more cues on market direction. Additionally, global cues were positive due to better US job data.”
Asian markets mostly closed higher and European stock markets advanced in opening trade, tracking gains on Wall Street on Friday after a strong jobs data for June allayed fears of impact of the US-China trade dispute. In the Asian region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.32 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index climbed 2.47 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei ended 1.21 per cent higher. In Europe, Paris CAC edged higher 0.19 per cent, while Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.18 per cent. London’s FTSE too up 0.31 per cent.
Investors were looking forward to the quarterly results of IT majors TCS and Infosys that will kick-start the earnings season this week, brokers said. TCS, however, fell by 1.34 per cent at Rs 1,887.65 on profit booking ahead of its financial results Tuesday. Shares of other Tata group companies witnessed gains after the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) dismissed the pleas of Cyrus Mistry against Tata Sons for removing him as chairman. Tata Motors rose 0.81 per cent to Rs 273.35 after Tata Motors-owned Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) reported 0.9 per cent year-on-year increase in global sales at 52,049 units in June. Tata Steel rose 0.49 per cent to Rs 556.85 on strong quarterly sales, Tata Power climbed 2.09 per cent to Rs 73.20, Tata Chemicals was up 1.65 per cent at Rs 712.90, and Tata Coffee went up 0.68 per cent to Rs 118.95.
The broader markets displayed a firm trend. The BSE small-cap index rose by 1.58 per cent and mid-cap by 1.23 per cent. Sector-wise, energy rose 1.46 per cent, capital goods 1.46 per cent, power 1.32 per cent, infrastructure 1.29 per cent, metal 1.24 per cent, healthcare 1.16 per cent, oil & gas 1.12 per cent, bankex 0.94 per cent.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)