Sensex ends above 27,200 led by ITC

Tata Motors, ONGC, HDFC and TCS were the top gainers

Market recouped early losses to finally end the session, with the Nifty gaining for the fourth straight day, led by index heavyweight ITC and auto major Tata Motors.

The Sensex gained 116 points to close at 27,206 and the Nifty advanced 25 points to end at 8,146.

The total market turnover for the day stood at 5.9 lakh crore, which is the fifth highest till date.

Earlier in the day, after opening in the red, the benchmark index languished in the negative territory till early noon trades. The BSE benchmark had touched a low of 26,918 in intra-day trades.

However, a divergent trend was visible in the broader markets. The mid and smallcap indices which were resilient for most part of the day lost some steam in the closing hour of trade. The smallcap index ended up 0.5% and the midcap index registered a 0.2% gain.

Sectors & Stocks

The BSE Metal and Healthcare indices down a percent each were the top losers while FMCG, Auto and Consumer Durables indices gained 1-3%.

Consumer Durables stocks gained on expectation of demand ahead of the festive season. PC Jewellers, Whirlpool and Titan up 2-20% were the movers in this space.

Auto index was up over 1% supported by gains in Tata Motors which was up nearly 4% as analysts have remained on bullish on the stock. Hero MotoCorp up 2% was the other top gainer.

FMCG stocks gained in today's trade with ITC up over 3% along with HUL which added 1%.

ONGC, HDFC, GAIL, SBI and TCS which added 1-3% were some of the other prominent gainers for the day.

After strong performance during last week pharma stocks have come under pressure due to profit booking. Sun Pharma and Cipla slipped 1.5-2%.

Also, profit booking in IT stocks after they posted gains in the range of 1 to 4% last week has kept their stocks bogged down. Infosys and Wipro were down 1-1.5%.

BHEL, Tata Steel, Hindalco, NTPC and Tata Power down 1-2.5% were the other notable losers.

The market breadth was positive on BSE. 1,658 stocks advanced while 1,376 stocks declined.

Smart Moves

Suven Life Sciences was up 2% at Rs 204.5 after the board at its meeting held earlier today approved raising of funds up to $100 million.

Kitex Garments nearly 20% to Rs 489 ahead of its board meeting today to review the performance of the company.

Force Motors was locked in upper circuit at Rs 1,198, also its record high on BSE, on back of heavy volumes.

Zen Technologies was locked in upper circuit of 20% at Rs 155, extending its previous day’s rally, after the company said the total value of orders pending as on date is Rs 170.68 crore.

Bharti Infratel dipped over 5% to Rs 294 on reports that US based private equity fund Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co. (KKR) is planning to sale its entire stake in the telecom tower firm.

Suzlon Energy was locked in lower circuit for the second straight day, down 10% at Rs 18.40 after  fresh equity shares following the conversion of the company's foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCBs) began to trade from Friday, September 19, 2014.

Global Markets

Asian shares skidded on Monday as investors awaited data this week that could provide more evidence of a slowdown in China, while the dollar gave back a little of its recent gains.

China's flash manufacturing PMI reading on Tuesday could come in below the 50 level, indicating that manufacturing activity is contracting.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped about 1%. Japan's Nikkei stock average ended down 0.7%, after it marked its highest closing level since 2007 on Friday and gained 2.3% last week.

The downbeat mood continued into the European markets with all the major markets like CAC, DAX and FTSE down 0.1-0.6%.