Photo: The Hindu Business Line

Chennai, India (BBN) – The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by over 100 points and the Nifty50 above the 10,100 mark on value-buying by domestic investors in recently beaten down stocks amid firm global cues.

Brokers said fresh spell of buying by domestic investors in recent beaten down stocks helped the key indices to trade in the positive zone after four days of losses, reports The Hindu Business Line.

Trading was highly volatile ahead of RBI monetary policy review and Gujarat elections later this week.
At 10.35 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 93.31 points or 0.28 per cent at 32,926.25 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 23.55 points or 0.23 per cent at 10,145.35.

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index gained the most by 0.98 per cent, followed by IT 0.96 per cent, TECk 0.89 per cent and oil & gas 0.42 per cent. On the other hand, consumer durables index was down 0.57 per cent, FMCG 0.23 per cent, banking 0.03 per cent and capital goods 0.02 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Infosys (+2.97%), Tata Motors (+2.44%), ONGC (+1.78%), Bharti Airtel (+1.48%), and Tata Steel (+1.15%), while the major losers were Adani Ports (-1.21%), Coal India (-0.99%), TCS (-0.94%), Wipro (-0.85%) and Cipla (-0.8%).
Shares of Infosys climbed as much as 3.5 per cent in the morning trade as the board has has appointed Salil S. Parekh as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director (CEO & MD) of the company effective January 2, 2018.
Biocon shares rallied as much as 14.2 per cent to Rs. 510 as the US Food and Drug Administration had on Friday approved Mylan NV’s biosimilar of Roche’s blockbuster treatment for breast cancer, Herceptin, making it the second copycat cancer drug to be approved in the United States.
The Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy committee is likely to keep the policy repo rate on hold in the upcoming monetary policy review on account of various factors, including likelihood of retail inflation nudging up due to higher prices of vegetables and protein items, rising crude oil prices, risk of fiscal slippage, and possibility of the US Fed upping interest rates.
A curious catalyst has surfaced in the electoral chemistry of Gujarat.
EARLY TRADE
The 30-share index gained 175.53 points or 0.53 per cent to 33,008.47 with sectoral indices led by IT, TECk and healthcare trading in the positive zone. The gauge had tanked 891.50 points in the previous four sessions. The Nifty jumped 57.40 points or 0.56 per cent to 10,179.20.
According to provisional data, foreign funds had bought shares worth Rs. 306.11 crore on Friday.
ASIAN SHARES
The US dollar bounced to a two-week top on Monday as traders celebrated the passage of a Senate tax bill over the weekend, while stronger US stock futures pointed to a merry start for Asian shares.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average index fell 40.76 points or 0.17 per cent to 24,231, while the S&P500 lost 5.36 points or 0.20 per cent to 2,642. The Nasdaq Composite index also dropped 26.39 points or 0.38 per cent to 6,847.59 on developments with a probe into Russia’s alleged involvement in the US election as well as with progress on a tax Bill in Congress.
BBN/MMI/ANS