Jayant Manglik, President, Retail Distribution, Religare Securities    Nifty opened with an uptick and managed to settle with decent gains amid volatility. Buoyancy on the local front helped the index to make a firm start as participants took note of RIL's results and contraction in trade deficit figure. Some support also came in with further strengthening of rupee against the dollar combined with favorable global cues. However, traders really had a tough time on specific stocks due to excessive volatility. On sectoral front, noticeable buying was witnessed on metal, pharma, realty and auto stocks while PSU banks remained under pressure.    We reiterate our positive view on Nifty and expect 10,400 to be tested shortly. Any intermediate pause or decline should be considered as buying opportunity. Volatility is not new during the earnings season, so traders should focus on position management also. 

Sectoral trend at close  Source: NSE

Sensex heatmap at close Source: BSE

Bharti Airtel top gainer Bharti Airtel hogged limelight with the stock rallying nearly 6% to Rs 457, its nine-year high. The telecom giant last week announced its decision to combine operations with Tata Teleservices and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra). 

Markets at close The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 32,633, up 201 points, while the broader Nifty50 settled at 10,230, up 63 points. 

Fundraising via IPOs at record high; crosses Rs 40,000 crore mark in CY17   With the initial public offering (IPO) of General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) getting fully-subscribed, fund-raising through the IPO route has hit a record high so far in 2017, crossing Rs 40,000 crore mark. Thus far in the calendar year 2017 (CY17), 28 companies have collectively mopped up Rs 44,853 crore through IPOs, surpassing its previous high recorded seven year ago. In entire CY10, as many as 64 companies had raised Rs 37,535 crore via IPOs. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY The average Sensex return for these months is a negative 1.55%  

Buzzing stock Visa Steel surged 19.78% to Rs 21.50 on BSE after the Reserve Bank of India hiked foreign investment limit in the company to 74% from 24%.

European markets   European markets edged slightly higher on Monday morning as investors monitored the latest in political news coming out of Austria, Spain and the UK.   The pan-European STOXX600 added 0.2%, while Spain's IBEX was down 0.7%. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, was up 0.1%, fueled by the earlier gains in Asia and those in Europe.

Markets check At 3:00 pm, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 32,641, up 208 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,233, up 65 points. 

Competition in telecom sector to remain intense: Moody's   Competition in the Indian telecom sector is expected to remain intense over 12-18 months despite consolidation as leading operators look to safeguard their turf, according to Moody's.   "While consolidation activity is positive for the industry in the long-term, we still expect competition to remain intense over the next 12-18 months as leading operators - like Bharti, Vodafone India and Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited - look to protect and grow market share," it said. READ MORE

Federal Bank hits record high post Q2   Federal Bank hit a new high of Rs 124, up 6% on the BSE after the bank reported 31% year on year (yoy) growth in net profit at Rs 264 crore in September quarter (Q2FY18), on back of higher interest income. It had posted a net profit of Rs 201 crore in the same quarter last fiscal. READ FULL REPORT