Sensex, Nifty Snap 3-Day Losing Run As Consumer, Bank Stocks Rise

Indian equity benchmarks on Monday settled higher in volatile trade, halting a three-day losing run amid mixed cues from their Asian peers. The domestic indices surged during the late deals as gains in consumer, banking and financial stocks countered losses in metal, technology and energy.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 327 points or 0.62 per cent lower to close at 53,235 today, while the broader NSE Nifty moved 83 points or 0.53 per cent higher to settle at 15,835. Sensex swung in a band of 627 points during today's session.

Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a strong note as Nifty Midcap 100 soared 0.69 per cent and small-cap climbed 0.64 per cent.

Nine out of the 15 sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- settled in the green. Sub-index Nifty FMCG, Nifty Consumer Durables, Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services outperformed the NSE platform by rising as much as much as 2.66 per cent, 0.77 per cent, 1.20 per cent and 0.93 per cent, respectively.

However, Nifty Metal, Nifty IT and Nifty Oil & Gas showed weakness by falling as much as 0.99 per cent, 0.62 per cent and 0.41 per cent, each.

On the stock-specific front, Hindustan Unilever was the top Nifty gainer as the stock surged 3.84 per cent to Rs 2,370. IndusInd Bank, Britannia, ITC and ICICI Bank were also among the gainers.

The overall market breadth stood positive as 2,026 shares advanced while 1,360 declined on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE index, HUL, IndusInd Bank, ITC, ICICI Bank, PowerGrid, SBI, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech, NTPC, Titan and Nestle India were among the top gainers with their shares up as much as 3.78 per cent.

Further, shares of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), the country's biggest insurer and largest domestic financial investor, rose 2.33 per cent to end at Rs 692.50.

In contrast, TCS, Tata Steel, M&M, Dr Reddy's, Tech Mahindra and Wipro finished in the red.