Nifty ends above 18k on broad-based rally

Mumbai: Domestic equities on Monday extended their gains for a consecutive third session as global markets bounced back. The S&P BSE Sensex surged 786.74 points or 1.31 per cent, to end at 60,746.59 points. NSE Nifty closed at 18,012, up 225.40 points or 1.27 per cent.

BSE Sensex added over 3,000 points in October, on the back of strong corporate earnings reports and hopes of a less-hawkish stance from major central banks.

Retail investors are closely watching the outcome of policy meetings of the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of England (BoE). Further, a surprise meet of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), scheduled for Nov 3, is also on the cards. RBI PMC will discuss its response to the government on its failure to stick to its inflation target for three quarters in a row.

The Financial Services, IT, Pharma, Auto, and Consumer Durable indices gained over one per cent each, while others added.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap, and SmallCap indices edged 1.24 per cent, and 0.45 per cent higher, respectively.

Gains were broad-based as all the sectoral indices ended higher. The Financial Services, IT, Pharma, Auto, and Consumer Durable indices moved up over one per cent each, while others added up to 1 per cent.

Among individual stocks, Ultratech Cement, Sun Pharma, HDFC twins, L&T, M&M, Bajaj twins, Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, Infosys, Tech M, Kotak Bank, HUL, Titan, and ITC jumped in the range of 1 per cent to 4 per cent. On the downside, NTPC, Dr Reddy's Labs, IndusInd Bank, and Nestle were the only Sensex losers, down up to 0.7 per cent.

European stocks were sluggish as investors turned cautious on Monday morning. Investors awaited key economic data out of the euro zone. The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell 0.2 per cent in early trade, with basic resources falling 0.7 per cent, while telecoms added 0.2 per cent.

Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, shares were mostly higher as China factory activity missed expectations, and markets looked ahead to the US Federal Reserve meeting later this week. Nikkei advanced 1.8 per cent, Kospi 1.1 per cent, and ASX200 1.15 per cent. Hang Seng, however, dipped 1.2 per cent.