After swinging 266 points, Sensex closes with marginal gains

Yes Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack rising 5.80 per cent, followed by Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank and Tata Steel.

Benchmarks Sensex and Nifty on Monday managed to close in the green after a choppy session, with banking stocks saved the day for the indices which were otherwise battered by weak global sentiment.

For a better part of the session, the Indian market was engulfed by bouts of volatility triggered by a sharp fall in Asian equities amid escalating political issues in Hong Kong and uncertainty over US-China trade deal.

After swinging 266 points during the day, the 30-share Sensex ended 21.47 points, or 0.05 per cent, higher at 40,345.08.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty closed with a gain of mere 5.30 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 11,913.45.

Yes Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack rising 5.80 per cent, followed by Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Bank and Tata Steel.

On the other hand, Hero MotoCorp, Vedanta, TCS, RIL, Asian Paints, Maruti and M&M fell up to 2 per cent.

Sectorally, BSE bankex, oil and gas, telecom, finance and realty indices rose up to 1.22 per cent.

While, BSE IT, FMCG, energy, auto, teck and capital goods indices fell up to 0.67 per cent.

Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended up to 0.29 per cent higher.

"Market was range-bound as investors stand sidelined from expensive large-caps while mid and small caps saw some buying interest based on Q2 results and reasonable valuation.

“Continued poor performance from automobiles and fresh doubts over US-China trade deal is likely to navigate a consolidation in the short-term," Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services Ltd, said.

He further said that investors are keen on CPI inflation data to be released on Tuesday.

"Consensus is showing further rise to 4.35 per cent due to increasing vegetable prices which may impact RBI's next policy outcome," Nair added.

Analysts also said that India's rating outlook downgrade by Moody's Investors Services last week too played in the minds of investors, who turned extra cautious.

Photograph: Arko Datta/Reuters