The Nifty 50 traded near 10,900. Asian stocks began the week on a cautious note after soft economic data from China and Europe added to evidence of cooling global growth. US equity futures edged up with stocks in Japan and Australia, while shares slipped in Shanghai and Hong Kong. Oil prices climbed after US drilling activity fell to its lowest level in about two months.
Indian benchmark indices advanced for the fifth session on Monday led by gains in auto, banks and power stocks. The rupee strengthened marginally against the US dollar after India’s trade deficit narrowed from a month ago due to sharp fall in gold imports. The Sensex surged 300 points led by banking stocks such as HDFC twins and ICICI Bank.
The BSE Sensex traded 280.04 points, or 0.78%, up at 36,242.97, and the Nifty 50 rose 68.10 points, or 0.63%, to 10,873.55. The BSE midcap and smallcap indices rose 0.33% and 0.28%, respectively. Fifteen out of 19 sectoral indices on BSE advanced with power, metal and utilities rising over 1%. IT, teck, realty and consumer durables declined.
