Nifty closes near day's high with gains of 158 points

Mumbai, Nifty opened positive and gained strength throughout the session on Tuesday to close near the day's high with gains of 158 points, or 0.7 per cent, to close at 21,929.40, said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

The broader market too ended in the green with Midcap 100/Smallcap 100 up 1.2 per cent and 0.8 per cent, respectively.

Barring banks and FMCG, all sectors ended with gains, with oil & gas and IT emerging as the top gainers, up 3 per cent, he said.

BLS e-services had a bumper debut, listing at a premium of 129 per cent and closing with total gains of 175 per cent from the IPO price, he said.

Majority of the European and Asian markets were trading positive on back of healthy earnings updates and signs of fresh stimulus in China. This coupled with strong services PMI data supported the domestic equities.

"Overall, we expect the market to continue its positive momentum with sectoral rotations. The key event this week is RBI's monetary policy which provide direction to the market. Though RBI is expected to maintain status quo, commentary would be eagerly eyed with regards to hint on rate cut," Khemka said.

The market exhibited a positive breadth on Tuesday, registering moderate gains, with investors showing reluctance to significantly trim their positions ahead of the RBI MPC meeting, said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Expectations for a dovish monetary policy buoyed the sentiment in the bond market. Meanwhile, oil & gas stocks held a modest advance as the market weighed down geopolitical risks in the Middle East and awaited improvements in the weekly US crude inventory on Tuesday, he said.

--IANS

san/arm