Nifty Snaps 7-Day Fall On F&O Expiry Day, Up 33 Points

The NSE benchmark Nifty snapped seven-day losing streak and closed 33 points higher on expiry day for September futures and options contracts.

The gains were driven by financial services, banking, realty, pharma, metals and FMCG sectors on the back of firmness in European stocks.

Overseas, European stocks edged higher after euro zone economic sentiment improved more than expected in September, reaching levels last seen in July 2007.

Asian stocks were mixed after US equities rebounded from losses on news of long-awaited tax reform plan.

The Nifty opened higher at 9,736.40 and moved in a range of 9,789.20 and 9,687.55 before ending at 9,768.95, up 33.20 points, or 0.34 per cent, from the last close.

It saw an intra-day movement of about 101.65 points.

On the sectoral front, Finance Service rose by 1.12 per cent, followed by realty 1.10 per cent, pharma 0.83 per cent, bank 0.82 per cent, metal 0.70 per cent and FMCG 0.69 per cent.

However, energy, media and IT fell 0.68 per cent, 0.22 per cent and 0.21 per cent, respectively.

Major Index gainers were ACC, Dr Reddy, Coal India, Kotak Bank, Infratel, AmbujaCement, Cipla and Hindalco.

Loosers were AsianPaint, Bosch Ltd, AuroPharma, BhartiAirtel, Reliance, Tata Power, Eicher Motors and TCS.

The broader markets also put up a great show as both the Nifty midcap and smallcap indices both rose 0.56 per cent and 0.99 per cent, respectively.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was in favour of gainers. On the NSE, 1,019 stocks advanced, 648 declined and 82 stocks remained unchanged.

Total securities that hit their price bands were 130.

Turnover in the cash segment rose to INR 38,254.89 crore from INR 29,626.92 crore yesterday.

A total of 15,937.81 lakh shares changed hands in 11,430,542 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on the NSE stood at INR 1,29,56,107.10 crore.

PTI