Indian equity benchmark -- Nifty ended higher with gains of over half a percent on Monday amid ease in crude oil prices and some optimism come with the data showing much weaker-than-expected U.S. job growth in September reduced expectations for a potential Federal Reserve rate hike later this month. Index made a gap-up start, as traders took some support with Economic Affairs Secretary Anuradha Thakur’s statement that private investment in India is showing signs of a strong revival, with capital formation in the first quarter of the current financial year growing at its fastest pace in more than three years. Besides, Prime Minister's Principal Secretary-2 Shaktikanta Das said that the Indian economy is within striking distance of 8% growth, driven by broad-based reforms such as GST, flexible inflation targeting, banking reforms and commitment to fiscal prudence. However, in late morning session, index wiped out all its gains, on account of profit taking. But in a while, market staged recovery and continued its firm trade till the end of the session, as investors were optimistic about the country’s economic resilience after Finance Ministry said the Indian economy is estimated to have grown by 7.3% in the September quarter (Q2) of the current fiscal year (FY27).
Most of the sectorial indices ended in green except Pharma and IT stocks. The top gainers from the F&O segment were Kalyan Jewellers India, ITC and FSN E-Commerce Ventures. On the other hand, the top losers were Avenue Supermarts, Bandhan Bank and HCL Technologies. In the index option segment, maximum OI continues to be seen in the 23400 - 23600 calls and 23400 - 23600 puts indicating this is the trading range expectation.
