Midday report: Sensex jumps 704 points, Nifty 194 points up

Indian equity benchmarks were trading higher in Monday’s afternoon session. Sentiments were positive on the back of appreciating Indian rupee by over 8 paise to 82.38 against the US dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange on increased selling of the dollar by exporters and banks. Also, some support came in as a private report stated that India is likely to start negotiations with the Gulf Cooperation Council for a free trade agreement next week which will not only boost economic ties between the regions but also be a shot in the arm for India’s ambition to shore up its share in global exports. 

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The Sensex was trading at 60,663.86, up by 704.01 points or 1.17% after trading in a high-low range of 60,695.57 and 60,246.96. On the index, 26 stocks were advancing and 4 were declining.

The broader indices were trading mostly green with the BSE Midcap index up by 0.73% and the Smallcap index up by 0.33%.

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The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Auto up by 1.43%, TECK up by 1.39%, IT up by 1.26%, Telecommunication up by 1.08% and Consumer Discretionary up by 1.07%. While Metal down by 0.38% and Utilities down by 0.14% were the only losing sectoral indices on the BSE.

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The top gainers on the Sensex were Sun Pharma Industries up by 3.16%, Ultratech Cement 2.88%, Mahindra & Mahindra 2.22%, HDFC Bank 1.10% and HDFC 1.81%. NTPC down by 1.67%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab down by 1.50%, Tata Steel down by 0.64%, and IndusInd Bank down by 0.32% were the only losers on the index.  

The Nifty was trading at 17,981.45 up by 194.65 points or 1.09% after trading in a high-low range of 17,989.60 and 17,899.90. On the index, 42 stocks were advancing, against 8 stocks declining.

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The top gainers on Nifty were Sun Pharma Industries up by 3.13%,  Ultratech Cement 2.81%, UPL 2.12%, Mahindra & Mahindra 2.10% and Grasim Industries Limited 2.09%. While NTPC down by 1.64%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab by 1.37%,  Apollo Hospital Enterprises by 0.98%, Tata Steel by 0.64 and IndusInd Bank by 0.34% were the top losers on the index.

Asian markets were trading mostly higher with the Nikkei 225 rising 1.78%, Shanghai Composite falling 0.94%, KOSPI Composite rising 1.11%, and Hang Sang slipping 0.27%.