Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty -- ended Thursday’s trading session on a higher note, ahead of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) interest rate decision. There are expectations that RBI will keep key rates on hold. Index made an optimistic start, as investors took encouragement with Finance Secretary T V Somanathan’s statement that India's retail inflation is likely to ease by December as seasonal factors become more favourable. Some support also came in with a private report that the much-awaited India-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is set to be signed by both countries by month-end, with all outstanding issues having been resolved.
Index continued to trade on a higher note in afternoon session, as sentiments remained optimistic after India’s services sector growth strengthened in the month of September, as a positive demand environment boosted intakes of new business and output volumes. As per the survey report, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Services PMI Business Activity Index rose at 61.0 in September from 60.1 in August. Further, the S&P Global India Composite PMI Output Index -- which measures both manufacturing and services -- surged to 61.0 in September as against 60.9 in August. Finally, index ended with gains of 109.65 points.
Traders were seen piling up positions in Media, Auto and IT stocks, while selling was witnessed in PSU Bank, Healthcare and Pharma. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Birlasoft, Interglobe Aviation and Sun TV Network. On the other hand, the top losers were Marico, Punjab National Bank and Navin Fluorine International. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 19900 - 20100 calls and 19400 - 19600 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
