Indian equity benchmark - Nifty ended higher for fourth straight session on Monday as crude oil prices remained below $72 per barrel. Index made positive start amid foreign fund inflows. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 1,355.33 crore on July 03. Soon, index extend gains and touched day’s high in afternoon session supported by broad-based buying as investors reacted to quarterly business updates from key private lenders. Several lenders including HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, among others, reported provisional numbers for the April-June period ahead of quarterly earnings. Some support came as Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said that India is targeting 16-17 per cent growth in merchandise exports to $530 billion in the current fiscal year. In afternoon session, index trimmed some of the gains but continued its trade in green and ended the session with over half a percent gain.
Most of the sectorial indices ended in green lead by Realty, Consumer Durable & Auto stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Dixon Technologies (India), Radico Khaitan and Manappuram Finance. On the other hand, the top losers were Varun Beverages, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Multi Commodity Exchange of India. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 24900 - 25100 calls and 23900 - 24100 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
