Mumbai: After witnessing volatility, markets on Monday (December 9) ended with marginal gains. The Sensex closed up 42.28 points at 40,487.43, while Nifty ended up 15.50 points at 11,937. Major gainers on the Nifty were Axis Bank, BPCL, HDFC, Adani Ports and Maruti Suzuki, while TCS, HCL Technologies, Cipla, L&T and Zee Entertainment were losers.
About 1034 shares advanced today, 1431 shares declined, while 169 shares remain unchanged. Among sectors, buying saw in the metal, auto, energy, and infra stocks, while IT and FMCG witnessed selling pressure.
During early hours on Monday, equity benchmark indices were flat with auto and metal stocks in focus. At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 21 points to 40,466, while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 11 points at 11,933. Among stocks, Hindalco was up by 2 per cent at Rs 201.90 per share, while Vendanta added gains of 1.3 per cent. Tata Steel traded higher by 1.2 per cent and JSW Steel by 0.9 per cent. Auto major Maruti Suzuki too traded 2 per cent higher, Tata Motors by 1.7 per cent, Eicher Motors by 0.9 per cent and Mahindra & Mahindra by 0.7 per cent.
The other prominent gainers were Zee Entertainment and Yes Bank. However, those which lost included HCL Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services, Hindustan Lever, Bharti Infratel and pharma major Cipla.
Sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were mixed with Nifty FMCG, IT and realty in the negative zone but Nifty metal and auto gained by 0.94 per cent each.
Indian rupee opened lower by 9 paise at 71.29 per dollar today versus Friday's close 71.20. The US dollar held firm after data showed surprise strength in the US jobs market. The currency, however, was restrained from moving higher by worries about an escalation in the US-China trade war.
Meanwhile, Asian stocks edged up on Monday, catching some of Wall Street`s momentum after surprisingly strong US jobs data although regional gains were capped by concerns about China`s economy due to the prolonged Sino-US trade war.
Japan`s benchmark Nikkei advanced 0.3% while MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.3%, with Australian stocks and South Korea`s Kospi up 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively.
US job growth increased by the most in 10 months in November as the healthcare industry boosted hiring and production workers at General Motors returned to work after a strike, in the strongest sign that the economy is in no danger of stalling.
The market has been largely working on the assumption that those tariffs, which cover several consumer products such as cellphones and toys, will be dropped or at least postponed, given that Washington and Beijing agreed in October to work on a trade deal.
(With Agency Inputs)
