Indian equity markets ended higher on Monday, with the benchmark indices gaining more than 0.6 per cent, supported by stable crude oil prices and buying in financial, auto and realty stocks.
Market experts said stable crude oil prices supported investor sentiment and strengthened the broader macroeconomic outlook.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Investments Limited, said Indian equities traded with a positive bias despite mixed global cues, supported by stable crude prices.
He said, “Indian equities traded with a positive bias despite mixed global cues, supported by stable crude prices. Continued softness in crude would support inflation, the current account balance, OMC profitability, and overall macro stability. Globally, profit-booking in crowded AI-led trades impacted the global market while India could perform well led by large caps due to improvement in FIIs inflows trend. On the domestic front, financials, autos, realty, and oil & gas led the gains”.
He further added, “Financials were supported by expectations of healthy private bank earnings, while autos benefited from strong volume trends and improving demand outlook. Realty remained buoyed by resilient housing demand.”
Among the sectoral indices on the NSE, Nifty Realty emerged as the top performer, rising 1.75 per cent, followed by Nifty Auto, which gained 1.38 per cent. Nifty Metal advanced 0.88 per cent, Nifty Pharma rose 0.54 per cent, and Nifty FMCG added 0.27 per cent.
On the other hand, Nifty PSU Bank declined 0.83 per cent, Nifty Media slipped 0.87 per cent, while Nifty IT fell 0.52 per cent.
Among the Nifty 50 stocks, the top gainers included HDFC Bank, Hindalco, ONGC, Bajaj Auto and Mahindra & Mahindra. The top losers included Kotak Bank, Max Healthcare, TCS, Coal India, Bajaj Finserv and Wipro.
In the commodities market, Brent crude oil prices continued to soften, trading 0.61 per cent lower at USD 71.66 per barrel at the time of filing this report.
Gold prices also declined 0.48 per cent to Rs 1,46,672 per 10 grams for 24-karat gold, while silver prices fell 0.26 per cent to Rs 2,36,800 per kg.
Asian markets witnessed a mixed trend. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.15 per cent to 69,637, Taiwan’s weighted index declined 0.48 per cent to 46,556, and South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.46 per cent to 8,051. Meanwhile, Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.30 per cent to 5,259, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.78 per cent to 23,533.