Benchmark indices gave up early gains on Monday as profit booking emerged towards the fag end of the session, but still managed to end with modest gains. Starting the week on a positive note, the Sensex rose 460.52 points (0.57%) to an intraday high of 81,171.38, but later pared most gains to close at 80,787.30, up 76.54 points or 0.09%. Similarly, the Nifty climbed 144.50 points (0.58%) to hit an intraday high of 24,885.50, before ending at 24,773.15, up 32.15 points or 0.13%. The rally in auto shares was offset by losses in IT counters.
Global Cues and Investor Sentiment
“The domestic market failed to sustain its early gains as a late-session sell-off reflected the prevailing buy-on-dips, sell-on-rallies strategy, highlighting investor caution,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services.
Globally, sentiment improved after soft US jobs data raised hopes of a Fed rate cut in September. However, renewed concerns over sanctions on Russian oil pushed crude prices higher, while gold extended gains as trade-related uncertainties lifted safe-haven demand, Nair added.
Ajit Mishra, SVP – Research, Religare Broking, said investor sentiment was supported by GST rate-cut tailwinds and dovish signals from the US Federal Reserve, which bolstered rate-cut hopes after weak U.S. jobs data. He added that easing geopolitical risks and optimism about India’s economic outlook also lent support to select sectors. However, persistent foreign institutional selling and speculation over potential restrictions on IT services exports capped the upside.
Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth ₹2,170.35 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth ₹3,014.30 crore, as per provisional BSE data.
Sectoral Moves and Top Gainers
Market breadth was positive, with 2,286 gainers against 1,940 losers on the BSE. Broader indices outperformed the benchmarks as the BSE Midcap rose 0.33% and the BSE Smallcap gained 0.30%. Investors’ wealth increased by ₹1.30 lakh crore, taking the total market capitalisation on the BSE to ₹452.73 lakh crore.
With a 3.12% gain, the auto sector emerged as the top performer on expectations of demand recovery following GST rate cuts. Consumer discretionary, services, telecom and realty were other notable gainers, rising up to 1.13%. In contrast, IT remained weak amid global uncertainties, falling 0.80%, followed by TECK and consumer durables. The BSE Auto Index surged 5.20% in the past three sessions since the GST rationalisation announcement, significantly outperforming the Sensex, which delivered a modest 0.27% gain during the same period.
Among Sensex stocks, Tata Motors, M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Adani Ports and Tata Steel were the top gainers, rising up to 3.97%, while Trent, Asian Paints, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra and L&T were the top laggards, falling up to 3.81%.