Sensex gains 150 points, Nifty reclaims 8,100; Asian Paints top gainer

The Benchmark indices were trading higher in the afternoon trade even as investors feared the “no” vote in Italy's referendum on Sunday could hurt the country's banking system and lead to global contagion.

Hit hard by cash shortage, services sector contracted in November -- that too at sharpest rate in three years -- as new orders fell for the first time since June 2015 though subdued inflationary pressure opened up room for RBI to lower rates, a monthly survey showed today.

Investors’ have turned cautious ahead of two-day meet of the monetary policy committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which is scheduled on Tuesday & Wednesday.

At 14:21, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 26,365, up 135 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 8,126, up 40 points. Among broader markets, BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices added 0.72% and 0.68%, respectively.

Jimeet Modi, CEO, SAMCO Securities said, “Market seems to be heading for some volatile sessions next week due to major event. However in the short term prices are expected to oscillate between Nifty 7,900 on the lower side and 8,300 on the higher side, with expected weakness on the higher side."

He further adds, "Short term traders may stay on the side lines till RBI’s policy pronouncement. If rates are reduced more than market expectations a brief rally could be expected otherwise Nifty50 is expected to remain under pressure. Breach of 7,900 levels in NIFTY 50 could lead to panic selling up to 7,600 levels."    

Among overseas markets, The euro fell to a 20-month low on Monday and investors fled riskier assets after Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said he would resign following a stinging defeat on constitutional reform that could destabilise the country's shaky banking system.

Renzi's failure deals a body blow to a European Union already reeling under anti-establishment anger that led to the shock exit of the UK from the club in June.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.4%, while E-mini futures for the S&P 500 narrowed losses to 0.3%. Japan's Nikkei slid 0.9%.

Back home, HDFC, TCS, Power Grid, Wipro and Sun Pharma are down 1%-2%. On the gaining side, Lupin, Bharti Airtel, HUL, Asian Paints and M&M have gained between 1%-3%.

Four employees, including a branch manager, of HDFC Bank, were sacked in Chandigarh for allegedly indulging in unauthorised exchange of demonetised currency notes, the bank said in a statement on Saturday.

The m-cap of TCS plummeted by Rs 15,168.65 crore to Rs 4,38,197.26 crore while that of Infosys tanked Rs 3,032.41 crore to Rs 2,21,447.99 crore. The stock is down over 1.5%.

Among other shares, Procter and Gamble Hygiene and HealthCare Ltd (P&G) was trading higher by 3% at Rs 6,825 on the BSE after the company reported a 50% year on year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 103.72 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2016 (Q1), helped by higher volume growth.

Kolte-Patil Developers surged 18% to Rs 112 on the BSE in otherwise range-bound market after the company reported a strong 54% year on year (YoY) jump in net profit at Rs 19.3 crore for the quarter ended September 2016 (Q2FY17), on back of healthy volume growth.

KEC International gained 3.6% to Rs 143 on BSE in early morning trade after the company said that it won international orders worth of Rs 840 crore of various segments viz. transmission and distribution segment, cable business.

With Reuters inputs