Mumbai, India (BBN) – The Sensex and Nifty ended marginally higher, as lenders such as State Bank of India recovered from the previous session’s losses, but mobile operators fell after Bharti Airtel unveiled a plan with free 4G data, sparking competition fears.
Domestic gains were limited as data released late on Monday showed the coiuntry’s annual infrastructure output growth slowed to 4.9 per cent in November, compared with 6.6 per cent in the previous month, as crude oil and natural gas production declined, reports The Hindu Business Line.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 47.79 points or 0.18 per cent at 26,643.24 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up 12.75 points or 0.16 per cent at 8,192.25.
Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables index gained the most by 3.01 per cent, oil & gas 1.97 per cent, PSU 1.58per cent and power 1.04 per cent.
On the other hand, TECk index was down 0.26 per cent, auto 0.19 per cent and IT 0.16 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Power Grid (+2.48%), Axis Bank (+1.9%), Coal India (+1.53%), Cipla (+1.46%) and GAIL (+1.1%), while the major losers were Bharti Airtel (-2.36%), Hero MotoCorp (-1.37%), Tata Motors (-1.23%), Wipro (-0.86%) and Infosys (-0.69%).
SOVEREIGN BONDS
Indian sovereign bonds were headed for a fifth session of gains on signs of better-off fiscal situation following the government’s move to curtail its market borrowing for the rest of the financial year.
India narrowed its weekly borrowings for the rest of the financial year by saving Rs 3,000 crore each from the scheduled six weekly bond auctions until February 10, the Reserve Bank of India had said late on Monday.
“With focus on the upcoming budget, markets are expected to be rangebound with a slight upward bias, helped by a pre-budget positive sentiment,” said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Global markets marched confidently into 2017 on Tuesday, with Asian stocks extending gains after European shares surged to their highest in a year, while the dollar resumed its climb after last week’s stumble.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.4 per cent as most regional markets reopened after the New Year holiday.
It ended 2016 with a 3.7 per cent gain, its best year in four.
BBN/MS/ANS