gopalakrishna

After moving within a narrow range, stock indices closed marginally higher Monday riding on gains in oil and capital goods majors. Serial blasts that rocked Ahmedabad over the weekend, did little to deter trade, analysts said, adding that global cues and speculation about Reserve Bank's monetary policy drove sentiment. Volume was lower as traders were sceptical ahead of the likely measures.

Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex closed at 14,349.11, up 74.17 points or 0.52 per cent. It touched a high of 14,421.61 and low of 14,219.38 during the day.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty ended 20.25 points or 0.47 per cent higher at 4332.10, after swinging in a range of 4,352.65 and 4,282.25.

"The weather was not very inspiring. There's much uncertainty about the outcome of the monetary policy, and, as of now, there is no reason to believe that the RBI will not increase interest rates further," said Arun Kejriwal, director KRIS.

With inflation at 11.89 per cent for the week ended July 12, still way above the central bank's comfort zone, analysts feel a repo rate hike by 25 basis points and cash reserve ratio hike by 25 basis points seems likely.

Major losers among the large-caps comprised Sterlite Industries (-3.47%), Hindalco Industries (-2.21%), Tata Steel (-2.26%), State Bank of India (-2.12%), Mahindra & Mahindra (-1.98%) and NTPC (-1.44%).

Biggest gainers were Larsen & Toubro (up 3.73%), Tata Power (3.56%), ACC (3.34%), ONGC (3%), Ranbaxy Laboratories (2.6%) and Reliance Communications (1.82%).

Second rung stocks were in demand. BSE Mid-cap Index closed at 5,630.78, up 1.04 per cent and BSE Small-cap Index ended 1.98 per cent up at 6,912.98. Market breadth on BSE showed 1,767 advances and 850 declines.

Global triggers, which lifted sentiment initially, turned negative as corporate earnings and consumer confidence in Europe disappointed. At the time India markets closed, the FTSE 100 was down 0.22 per cent in the UK, the DAX 30 slid 0.98 per cent in Germany and the CAC 40 slipped 1.05 per cent in France.

In the Asia Pacific region, the Nikkei 225 finished 0.14 per cent higher, while the Hang Seng shed 0.24 per cent and Straits Times lost 0.43 per cent.

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