Sensex, Nifty End Higher Amid Choppy Trade Led By Metal, Auto Shares

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes ended higher amid a choppy trading session on Monday led by gains in NTPC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Hindustan Unilever and Larsen & Toubro. The benchmarks staged a gap up opening but turned choppy for most part pf the day as weakness in Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank limited the upside momentum. The Sensex traded in a band of 385 points and Nifty touched an intraday high of 11,255.75 and low of 11,144.50.

The Sensex ended 173 points or 0.46 per cent to close at 38,051 and Nifty 50 index advanced 69 points or 0.61 per cent to end at 11,247.

Nine of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Metal and Auto index's over 2 per cent gain. Realty, media and FMCG shares also witnessed buying interest.

On the other hand, Nifty PSU banking and pharma shares witnessed selling pressure.

Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed buying interest as the Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.4 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.8 per cent.

NTPC was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 7.5 per cent to close at Rs 95. Eicher Motors, Zee Entertainment, Hindalco, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Tech Mahindra, Indian Oil, Coal India, ONGC, Adani Ports, Maruti Suzuki and Wipro were also rose between 2.5-5 per cent each.

On the flipside, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, BPCL, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Grasim, Sun Pharma, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Dr Reddy's Labs were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,645 shares ended higher while 1,129 closed lower on the BSE.