Sensex extends gains in cautious trade, up 132 points

NEW DELHI: Extending gains for the second straight day, the benchmark BSE Sensex on Monday surged about 132 points to end at 34,865.10 on emergence of buying in IT stocks, even as headwinds in form of ongoing global trade tiff and rising crude prices continued to hit investors sentiments.nnThe NSE index Nifty gained 40 points to close at 10,512.50.nnInvestors mood remained cautious due to fresh weakness in the rupee on rising crude oil prices and a subdued trend at other Asian markets, following worries over Sino-US trade dispute, possible slowdown in the Chinese economy and signs of tighter monetary policy by the US Federal Reserve.nn”Market traded in a range bound manner and ended on a positive note. However negative sentiments over a slowing world economy due to trade war and rising cost of funds is continuing to impact the market,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said.nnThe rupee again breached the 74-mark against the US dollar to quote at 74.05 (intra-day) in the forex market.nnBrent crude, the international benchmark, was trading higher by 0.98 per cent, to USD 81.79 per barrel.nn”Rupee continued to be under pressure as oil prices started to move-up due to sudden spurt in tension between US & Saudi Arabia. Q2 result season began on a positive note, with Index heavy weights like IT and FMCG delivering in-line with expectation,” Nair said.nnMeanwhile, inflation based on wholesale prices rose to a two-month high of 5.13 per cent in September, mainly due to hardening of food prices and rise in cost of petrol and diesel, according to data released Monday.nnIndustrial production slipped to a three-month low of 4.3 per cent in August, while retail inflation up marginally to 3.77 per cent in September, data released by Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday.nn”September WPI inflation came in at 5.13 per cent versus expectations of 5.00 per cent and 4.53 per cent in the previous month, suggesting moderate inflationary pressures in the pipeline relative to headline consumer inflation,” Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management, said.nnThe 30-share barometer, which had gained 732.47 points, its biggest single day gain in 19 months on Friday, reclaimed the 35,000-mark to hit a high of 35,008.65 at the outset on sustained buying by DIIs but turned choppy and slipped into negative zone to touch a low of 34,559.98.nnFinally, it settled 131.52 points, or 0.38 per cent, higher at 34,865.10, largely supported by gains in healthcare and information technology space.nnOn similar lines, the NSE Nifty was up by 40 points, or 0.38 per cent, at 10,512.50. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,526.30-10,410.15.nnMeanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,287 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares to the tune of Rs 1,322 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.nnInfosys gains stood at 2.95 per cent ahead of Q2 earnings tomorrow, the most for a Sensex component, followed by ITC at 2.51 per cent.nnOther gainers that supported the key indices include ONGC, TCS, Sun Pharma, HDFC Bank, Wipro, RIL, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and NTPC, rising by up to 1.78 per cent.nnHowever, stocks of FMCG major Hindustan Unilever fell 2.68 per cent after it reported a 19.51 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 1,525 crore for the September 2018 quarter on Friday.nnM&M, Asian Paint, ICICI Bank, Vedanta Ltd, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, L&T, Maruti Suzuki, Asian Paint, Coal India, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, Hero MotoCorp, Yes Bak and Kotak Bank, also ended lower by up to 2.63 per cent and squeezed the gains.nnIn sector terms, the BSE healthcare index emerged top gainer by surging 2.22 per cent, followed by IT at 2.17 per cent, teck 1.96 per cent, power 0.76 per cent, FMCG 0.62 per cent, oil& gas 0.41 per cent, PSU 0.34 per cent, infrastructure 0.27 per cent and realty 0.07 per cent.nnWhile consumer durables index emerged top loser by falling 1.21 per cent, auto fell 0.48 per cent, metal 0.38 per cent and bankex 0.31 per cent.nnThe broader markets too were in better shape with the small-cap index rising 1.24 per cent, while mid-cap index up 0.53 per cent.nnStocks of oil marketing companies, however, were under some selling pressure due to rising global crude oil prices.nnTrend at other Asian markets remained weak as worries over Sino-US trade disputes, a possible slowdown in the Chinese economy and higher US borrowing costs tempered optimism.nnJapan’s Nikkei dropped 1.87 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.73 per cent, Taiwan shed 1.44 per cent,Koran down 0.77 per cent and Singapore declined 0.64 per cent. Shanghai’s Composite too dropped 1.49 per cent.nnIn the euro zone, Paris CAC 40 fell 0.21 per cent, while Frankfurt’s DAX shed 0.36 per cent in their late morning trade. London’s FTSE, however, was up 0.05 per cent.nnSource: Press Trust of India