Indices erase early gains; Nifty sustains above 8650 mark

The BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 66 points at 27,984. The BSE Sensex opened at 28,112 touched an intra-day high of 28,131 and low of 27,926.

The NSE Nifty closed with a loss of 19 points at 8,659. The NSE Nifty opened at 8,698 hit a high of 8,699 and low of 8,637.

Idea Cellular, BHEL, Tata Power, Wipro, Lupin, Gail, Adani Ports and Sun Pharma were among the gainers on NSE, whereas ITC, ICICI Bank, Hero MotoCorp, HUL, HDFC, Zee and Aurobindo Pharma were among the losers today.

The India VIX (Volatility) index gained by 0.51% to 14.6125. Out of 1,531 stocks traded on the NSE, 636 declined and 832 advanced today.

The rupee was trading up four paise at 66.68 per US dollar.

On the global front, Asian stocks closed on a mixed note. The Shanghai Composite index closed marginally higher after its GDP grew 6.7% in the year to September, precisely in line with forecasts, with tepid private investment compensated for by robust government spending and a heated property market. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 0.38%, while Nikkei 225 gained by 0.21%.

European investors awaited the outcome of the latest regional central bank meeting. The FTSE 100 was trading lower by 0.10%. DAX and the CAC 40 are trading down higher by 0.13% respectively.

Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilisers hit 20% upper circuit at Rs 63.35 after the company posted its net profit stands at Rs 15 crore for the quarter ended September 30 on strong operational performance despite revenue degrowth.

Sun Pharmaceuticals rallied 1% to Rs 750. ICGEB and Sun Pharma announced their new collaboration for development of a dengue vaccine, targeted against all the four serotypes of Dengue virus that cause disease in humans.

IDBI Bank rose 4% after media reports said that four bidders were looking to acquire a part of the government’s stake in the lender. GIC of Singapore, Asian Development Bank, IFC and Commonwealth Development Corporation are eyeing stakes in IDBI Bank, reports added.

BHEL rallied 3.7% to Rs 141 after the company commissioned three power projects - Koldam HEP (4x200 MW) of NTPCBSE 0.17%, Parbati HEP Stage-III (4x130 MW) of NHPCBSE 0.59 % and Rampur HEP (6x68.67 MW) of SJVN. As per media reports, the Supreme Court allowed an appeal against Madras High Court's stay over construction of Ennore SEZ supercritical thermal power project.

L&T Technology Services advanced 0.45%. The company announced that it has secured a new multiyear, multi-million dollar contract with a large global semi-conductor company to provide verification support on their expansive portfolio of offerings and products.

Havells India tanked 4.7%. Havells India on Tuesday reported a 22% YoY jump in net profit to Rs 145 crore for the September quarter, as per new accounting standard Ind-AS.

Sterling Tools galloped 13% after the company informed BSE that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will consider sub-division of the equity shares of the company on Nov 5.

Indian Oil Corporation gained 1.9% to Rs 326.90. CLSA has retained its buy rating on Indian Oil Corporation and raised target price by 20 per cent to Rs 810 from Rs 675.

Tata Power zoomed 3.5%. Tata Power has appointed three independent directors - Anjali Bansal, Vibha Padalkar and Sanjay Bhandarkar - on its board with effect from October 14, 2016.

Hatsun Agro Product Ltd gained 2%. The company is planning to invest around Rs 850 crore during the current fiscal year and next fiscal year, in order to set up two milk processing facilities, along with the expansion of existing facilities and marketing, as per media report.

Ceat dropped 3.3%. The company has introduced a new range of puncture-safe tyres for motorcycles, thereby creating a new segment.

A total of 105 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trade today, whereas nine stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Nifty hovers around 8,650 mark

The domestic market opened flat on Wednesday after GST council proposed a 'four-slab structure,' with two standard goods and services tax rates of 12% and 18% during its meet on Tuesday.

At 12:39 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,985 down 65 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,664 down 14 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.03% at 13,540 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.65% at 13,365.

The Sensex pared gains after rallying over 50 points, while The Nifty turned choppy but was still trading above its crucial psychological support level of 8,650 levels.

GAIL, Wipro, Sun Pharma, Lupin, Axis Bank and ONGC are among the gainers, whereas ITC, ICICI Bank, M&M, Hero MotoCorp, and TCS are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in pharma, oil & gas, power, consumer durables and energy sectors, while auto, realty, banking, IT, industrial and telecom are showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is up 0.61% at 14.6275. Out of 1,878 stocks traded on the NSE, 605 declined, 915 advanced and 358 remained unchanged today.

A total of 72 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while six stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

The rupee opened higher by four paise at 66.68/$ as against the previous close of 66.72/$.

Asian markets to open flat after a superb rally yesterday which saw indices stage a sharp comeback. Strength in the US$ could see collateral selling in Japanese stocks as the "yen hits 103 to the US$. The undertone however seems to be bullish with the Brazilian 'Bovespa" index leading from the front & hitting new 52 week highs. The commodity/energy led index is seeing huge out-performance in the emerging market basket of indices & which yesterday saw China & India also comeback strongly. All eyes were on the Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) report.

Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75.54 points to 18,161.94, the S&P 500 gained 13.1 points to 2,139.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 44.01 points to 5,243.84. The S&P 500 posted 4 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 47 new highs and 60 new lows.

Sensex, Nifty languish in red

The S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 28,015 down 35 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,669 down mere nine points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.11% at 13,559 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.38% at 13,329.

Sun Pharma, Wipro, Cipla, Lupin, RIL and ONGC are among the gainers, whereas ICICI Bank, ITC, Adani Ports, TCS, HUL and Bharti Airtel are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in pharma, oil & gas, power, consumer durables and energy sectors, while auto, realty, banking, IT, industrial and telecom are showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 0.91% at 14.4050. Out of 1,863 stocks traded on the NSE, 442 declined, 998 advanced and 423 remained unchanged today.

A total of 48 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while two stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

The rupee opened higher by four paise at 66.68/$ as against the previous close of 66.72/$.

A four-slab structure with two standard goods and services tax (GST) rates of 12% and 18% was proposed at the GST Council meeting on Tuesday. Expect action in sectors impacted by this move.

A clearance of stake sale by the government in around 20 entities is expected to be announced today. Buzz of MSCI rebalancing will also have an impact on stocks which are likely to be included and excluded. Endurance Technologies gets listed today. Oil futures rose after reports of a decline in U.S. crude supplies for the week ended Oct. 14.

Asian markets to open flat after a superb rally yesterday which saw indices stage a sharp comeback. Strength in the US$ could see collateral selling in Japanese stocks as the "yen hits 103 to the US$. The undertone however seems to be bullish with the Brazilian 'Bovespa" index leading from the front & hitting new 52 week highs. The commodity/energy led index is seeing huge out-performance in the emerging market basket of indices & which yesterday saw China & India also comeback strongly. All eyes were on the Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) report.

Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 75.54 points to 18,161.94, the S&P 500 gained 13.1 points to 2,139.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 44.01 points to 5,243.84. The S&P 500 posted 4 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 47 new highs and 60 new lows.

Nifty reclaims 8650 mark; Banking stocks lead

The Indian stock market ended with smart gains on Tuesday as the Sensex and Nifty hit its highest level since October 13, 2016. The Nifty Bank index, which gained 2.2%, was the top performing sectoral gauge led by ICICI Bank. This was the indices biggest single day jump since May 25 of this year.

The buying was so fierce that not a single sectoral index on the BSE ended with losses; finance, banking, capital goods, metal, industrial, pharma, FMCG, realty and auto stocks ended among the top gainers. Even the mid-cap and the small-cap stocks participated in today’s rally.

Finally, the BSE Sensex ended with a gain of 521 points at 28,051. The BSE Sensex opened at 27,657 touched an intra-day high of 28,054 and low of 27,653.

The NSE Nifty closed with a gain of 158 points at 8,678. The NSE Nifty opened at 8,556 hitting a high of 8,685 and low of 8,556.

The Sensex surged over 500 points while the Nifty50 reclaimed the crucial level at 8,650. Meanwhile, strong gains in global markets also supported the rally in the domestic equity market.

Investors now await a government meeting on the GST for clarity on rates. The three-day meeting of the GST Council, comprising federal and state finance ministers, will decide the main tax rate and those for different sectors.

Among the 50-stocks of Nifty, Adani Ports, ICICI Bank, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, Tata Steel, HCL Tech, Yes Bank and BHEL were among the gainers on NSE, whereas Bharti Infratel, Asian Paints, ONGC and BPCL were among the losers today.

The India VIX (Volatility) index was down 7.13% at 14.5375. Out of 1,492 stocks traded on the NSE, 356 declined and 1,093 advanced today.

The rupee was trading up 18 paise at 66.70 per US dollar.

On the global front, Asian stock markets rose on Tuesday ahead of China’s release of quarterly growth data and a policy meeting of the European Central Bank later in the week. Japanese shares recovered from a weak start to end modestly higher ahead of the earnings season starting later this week. Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite closed 1% each, while Nikkei 225 closed marginally higher.

European shares were trading in green, up by over 1%.

Sensex jumps over 250 points; Metal, Banking stocks lead

The Indian equity market started the Tuesday’s trading session in the positive zone. At 11:34  AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,773 up 243 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,590 up 69 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.98% at 13,422 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.95% at 13,233.

Tata Steel, HDFC, ICICI Bank, RIL, ITC, GAIL and Adani Ports are among the gainers, whereas Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, ONGC and TCS are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in realty, banking, finance, metal, IT, oil & gas, industrial and consumer durables sectors, while telecom is showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 3.40% at 15.1225. Out of 1,879 stocks traded on the NSE, 385 declined, 1,194 advanced and 300 remained unchanged today.

A total of 71 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while nine stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

The rupee opened higher by nine paise at 66.79/$ as against the previous close of 66.88/$.

Asian markets opened in the green after days of consolidation as markets seem set to bounce back from oversold territory.

The event line up of US elections in early November & the Fed rate outlook seems to be getting mostly priced in as markets discount the uncertainty.

The major concern of bond yields rising in the US may still be the only imponderable market will have to grapple with going forward. Select outperformance in emerging markets continues to be the theme of 2016 with Ibovespa the Brazilian stock index hitting fresh new 52 week highs.

Nifty broke 8550 with adventurous shorts forcing new recent lows & hitting sentiment in an oversold market. However given the recent improvement in macro's this sell off could be the chance most investors who missed the summer rally to buy stocks. Big corporate deleveraging, low inflation, revival in capital expansion & bond yields at the lowest in 7 years coupled with stable rupee all add up to Indian economy in top shape.

With global uncertainty now seemingly getting mostly priced in we expect November to see Nifty heading back to recent highs after the earnings & US elections play out.

On the political front, the GST council is slated to begin today.  RBI minutes of monetary policy meet will be released today.

Wall Street closed modestly lower on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 51.98 points, or 0.29% to 18,086.4, the S&P 500 lost 6.48 points, or 0.3% to 2,126.5 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 14.34 points, or 0.27% to 5,199.82.

In forex markets, major currencies were confined in broad trading ranges on the back of soggy US data and the absence of fresh triggers. Gold price rose, partly lifted by steady flows into exchange-traded funds and a dip in the dollar after touching seven-month highs. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said weak productivity, aging population and slow foreign economic growth are holding back interest rates. US industrial output meanwhile rose marginally in September. Oil prices remain at higher levels. 

Nifty trades above 8,550

At 9:28 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,714 up 183 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,573 up 52 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.79% at 13,397 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.86% at 13,332.

ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Steel, Axis Bank, GAIL and Tata Motors are among the gainers, whereas Bharti Airtel, Hero MotoCorp,and Asian Paints are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in realty, banking, finance, metal, IT, oil & gas, industrial and consumer durables sectors, while telecom is showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is down 5.31% at 14.8225. Out of 1,857 stocks traded on the NSE, 278 declined, 1,182 advanced and 379 remained unchanged today.

A total of 48 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while SIX stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

The rupee opened higher by nine paise at 66.79/$ as against the previous close of 66.88/$.

Asian markets opened in the green after days of consolidation as markets seem set to bounce back from oversold territory.

The event line up of US elections in early November & the Fed rate outlook seems to be getting mostly priced in as markets discount the uncertainty.

The major concern of bond yields rising in the US may still be the only imponderable market will have to grapple with going forward. Select outperformance in emerging markets continues to be the theme of 2016 with Ibovespa the Brazilian stock index hitting fresh new 52 week highs.

Nifty broke 8550 with adventurous shorts forcing new recent lows & hitting sentiment in an oversold market. However given the recent improvement in macro's this sell off could be the chance most investors who missed the summer rally to buy stocks. Big corporate deleveraging, low inflation, revival in capital expansion & bond yields at the lowest in 7 years coupled with stable rupee all add up to Indian economy in top shape.

With global uncertainty now seemingly getting mostly priced in we expect November to see Nifty heading back to recent highs after the earnings & US elections play out.

On the political front, the GST council is slated to begin today.  RBI minutes of monetary policy meet will be released today.

Wall Street closed modestly lower on Monday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 51.98 points, or 0.29% to 18,086.4, the S&P 500 lost 6.48 points, or 0.3% to 2,126.5 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 14.34 points, or 0.27% to 5,199.82.

In forex markets, major currencies were confined in broad trading ranges on the back of soggy US data and the absence of fresh triggers. Gold price rose, partly lifted by steady flows into exchange-traded funds and a dip in the dollar after touching seven-month highs. Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said weak productivity, aging population and slow foreign economic growth are holding back interest rates. US industrial output meanwhile rose marginally in September. Oil prices remain at higher levels. 

Nifty ends below 8,850

Closing Bell:


Finally, the BSE Sensex ended with a loss of 144 points at 27,530. The BSE Sensex opened at 27,776 touched an intra-day high of 27,803 and low of 27,488.

The NSE Nifty closed with a loss of 63 points at 8,520. The NSE Nifty opened at 8,613 hitting a high of 8,615 and low of 8,506.

Live Market:

The Indian stock markets are trading flat to slightly higher on Monday despite mixed cues from other Asian markets. The Sensex opened 102.54 points, or 0.37% up at 27,776.14, while Nifty opened 29.55 points, or 0.34% up at 8,612.95.
 
The Sensex hit a 14-week low, while the Nifty hit its lowest level in more than 10 weeks. European stock markets were trading lower as investors remained cautious ahead of earnings, key data and a European Central Bank meeting later this week.

The Sensex and Nifty pared gain and turned choppy weighed down by losses in metal, auto, telecom, and capital goods stocks.

At 2:18 PM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,5894 down 84 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,539 down 45 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.59% at 13,341 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading down 0.14% at 13,159.

ICICI Bank, NTPC, Coal India, Tata Steel and SBI are among the gainers, whereas M&M, Hero MotoCorp, HDFC Bank and Asian Paints are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in banking and consumer durables sectors, while auto, telecom, capital goods,IT, industrial and pharma are showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is up 5.70% at 15.7375. Out of 1,889 stocks traded on the NSE, 900 declined, 726 advanced and 263 remained unchanged today.

A total of 86 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while 11 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

Sensex falls over 100 points; Nifty below 8550

The Indian stock markets are trading flat to slightly higher on Monday despite mixed cues from other Asian markets. TheSensex opened 102.54 points, or 0.37% up at 27,776.14, whileNifty opened 29.55 points, or 0.34% up at 8,612.95.

The Sensex and Nifty pared gain and turned choppy weighed down by losses in metal, auto, telecom, and capital goods stocks.

The S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,704 up 31 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,557 down 26 points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading down 0.49% at 13,354 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.04% at 13,182.

ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, SBI, NTPC, GAIL,  and Coal India are among the gainers, whereas Bharti Airtel, Asian Paints, M&M, HDFC Bank, and Adani Ports are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in banking, finance, metal, energy, realty and consumer durables sectors, while telecom, capital goods, auto, and pharma are showing weakness on BSE.

The INDIA VIX is up 4.06% at 15.4925. Out of 1,886 stocks traded on the NSE, 732 declined, 845 advanced and 309 remained unchanged today.

A total of 83 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while eight stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

UltraTech Cement slipped 0.74% to Rs 4009. UltraTech Cement will announce its Q2 numbers today.

Ujaas Energy zoomed 4% to Rs 24.20 after the company has won order from Uttarakhand Renewable Energy Development Agency (UREDA) for Grid Interactive Rooftop & small Solar PV Power Plant of up to 5Kwp.

SBI advanced 1% to Rs 254.50. State Bank of India will divest up to 5% of its stake in its life insurance subsidiary SBI Life Insurance Co. Ltd.
 
Granules India gained 2%. The company informed BSE that Gagillapur facility located at Hyderabad, Telangana, India has successfully completed USFDA inspection without any observations. This facility manufactures Finished Dosages (FDs) and Pharmaceutical Formulation Intermediates (PFIs).

Vedanta inched up 0.43% to Rs 196. Vedanta has suspended mining operations at its Bicholim iron ore mine in Goa from Thursday due to labour unrest.

Cipla gained 0.59%. Cipla has signed a memorandum of agreement for South Africa's first biosimilars manufacturing facility to be set up at a cost of nearly USD 91 million.

NIIT Technologies dropped 4.4% to Rs 420.50. NIIT Tech reported better-than-expected revenue of Rs 692 crore in the September quarter helped by growth in its banking, financial services and insurance business (BFSI) business from the US.

Amtek Auto gained 2% to Rs 44.50. ICRA has downgraded rating for term loans of JMT Auto, a unit of ailing Amtek Auto Ltd (AAL), to 'BB-' from 'BB+', on adverse effect of the large-sized debt funded by foreign acquisitions.

Mawana Sugars gained 1.6%. Mawana Sugars has put its Titawi sugar mill on the block to bring down the debt and clear sugarcane dues to farmers.

Alok Industries jumped 2.4%. Alok Industries will seek protection from lenders as its plays to approach BIFR on grounds that 50% of its net worth has been wiped out as on March 2016.

Oil stocks is trading lower on the BSE. Petrol price was hiked by Rs 1.34 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.37 a litre on back of spike in global rates.

Lakshmi Vilas Bank rallied 3%. The bank will will announce its Q2 numbers today.

DHFL gained 1.6%. The company will announce its Q2 numbers today.

ICICI Bank zoomed 6.8% to Rs 258. Rosneft bought a 49% stake in Essar Oil's refinery port and petrol pumps, while Netherlands-based Trafigura Group Pteand Russian investment Fund United Capital Partnerssplit another 49% equity equally. The remaining 2% is held by minority shareholders after delisting of Essar Oil.  Rajiv Sabharwal the brain behind ICICI Bank's flourishing retail lending business has called it quits and will be replaced by ICICI veteran Anup Bagchi.

DCB Bank rallied 6.5%. The bank reported 31% year-on-year growth in the net profit to Rs 48.5 crore for the quarter ended September 30 compared with 36.9 crore reported in the year-ago period.

Sensex, Nifty volatile; Metal, Auto drag

At 9:31 AM, the S&P BSE Sensex is trading at 27,712 up 38 points, while NSE Nifty is trading at 8,583 down mere one points.

The BSE Mid-cap Index is trading up 0.36% at 13,468 whereas BSE Small-cap Index is trading up 0.40% at 13,230.

ICICI Bank, NTPC, GAIL, Axis Bank, SBI and ONGC are among the gainers, whereas Asian Paints, HDFC Bank, M&M, Bharti Airtel and Adani Ports are losing sheen on BSE.

Some buying activity is seen in banking, realty and FMCG sectors, while media, metal, auto and pharma are showing weakness on NSE.

The INDIA VIX is up 3.74% at 15.4450. Out of 1,861 stocks traded on the NSE, 599 declined, 841 advanced and 421 remained unchanged today.

A total of 46 stocks registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, while seven stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.

The rupee opened lower by 11 paise at 66.81/$ as against the previous close of 66.70/$.

On the economy front, India’s WPI in the month of September 2016 softened to 3.57% compared to 3.74% in the previous month. Also, retail inflation eased sharply to 4.31% in September, the slowest in more than a year, from 5.05% from August, mainly on account of a sharp fall in food prices.

Friday’s speech by Janet Yellen saw markets getting a bit worried as she guided that the Fed may need to run a ‘high-pressure’ economy with robust aggregate demand and a tight labor market to deal with the damage caused by the global financial crisis. While the Fed will look at plausible ways for the same, speculation continues on whether interest rates will be raised given that inflation is likely to inch higher on account of rising crude oil prices.

Asian markets traded mixed in the early start as markets continue to seek direction with event risk seeing caution prevail. Rise in US bond yields to 4 month highs, strength in the US $ ahead of the US elections & the subsequent Fed monetary policy are all seeing profit booking in most global equity markets. Oil prices retreated while Gold prices firmed up as defensive buying re emerged.

Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC) has decided to part-fund the government’s ambitious projects till completion and initially invest up to Rs6,000 crore in bonds sold by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) this financial year alone.

Ruia’s promoted Essar Oil sealed a deal with Russia’s Rosneft, United Capital Partners and Trafigura Group Pte. to sell 98% in its most priced asset, the 20 million tonnes per annum Vadinar refinery and Vadinar port in Gujarat.

Sensex, Nifty ends flat; Oil & Gas, Capital Goods stocks lead

The Indian stock market recovered from the previous session's multi-month low and closed marginally higher with financials gaining on the prospect of further rate cuts after inflation cooled to a 13-month low in September.

Markets were unable to hold on to their gains as selling pressure in the telecom, IT, technology and consumer discretionary stocks dragged indices lower. On the other hand, oil & gas, capital goods, energy, industrial, realty and banking stocks ended with gains.

Finally, the BSE Sensex ended with a gain of 30 points at 28,507. The BSE Sensex opened at 27,712, touched an intra-day high of 27,764 and low of 27,548.

The NSE Nifty closed with a gain of 10 at 8,583. The NSE Nifty opened at 8,594 hitting a high of 8,604 and low of 8,549.80.

Sentiments got boosted after India’s WPI in the month of September 2016 softened to 3.57% compared to 3.74% in the previous month . Also, some support was gained with retail inflation hitting a 13-month low, aided by lower food prices especially those of vegetables. This is the first time in this financial year that the overall CPI inflationhas fallen below the Reserve Bank of India’s inflation target of 5% by March 2017.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the absence of reforms in infrastructure and power sectors by the previous government created huge non-performing assets (NPAs) in these core segments.

Among the Nifty stocks, GAIL, L&T, Tata MotorsDVR, Tata Motors, RIL, BPCL, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement and TCS were the gainers whereas Zee, Bharti Infratel, Infosys, HUL, Eicher Motors and Idea Cellular were among the losers today.

The India VIX (Volatility) index was down 3.48% at 14.8875. Out of 1,398 stocks traded on the NSE, 473 declined and 879 advanced today.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices ended higher by 0.80%.

The rupee was trading up 19 paise at 66.74 per US dollar.

On the global front, Asian markets closed mixed on Friday, with investors assessing price increases in China and the possibility of an interest rate hike in the U.S. later in the year. Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained over 0.50%. China’s Shanghai Composite closed higher.