Nifty ends above 8000 level ahead of F&O expiry, up 31 points

Mumbai: The Nifty today closed above the 8,000-level for the second consecutive session ahead of expiry of November futures & options contracts, gaining 31 points on value buying in realty, metal, pharma and infra sectors on the back of positive global cues.

Investors continued to accumulate quality stocks at reasonable valuations, though were worries over quarterly earnings growth after currency demonetisation. Overseas, European stocks witnessed a mixed trend.

Asian stocks edged higher in the wake of recent rally on the Wall Street. Japanese stock markets were closed for a holiday. US stocks closed at record highs yesterday,extending recent gains. The 50-share Nifty moved in a range of 8,055.20 and 7,973.10 before closing at 8,033.30, a gain of 31 points, or 0.39 per cent, from its last close.

It saw an intra-day movement of about 82.10 points. On the sectoral front, Realty rose by 2.93 per cent, Metal 2.56 percent, Pharma 2.25 per cent, Media 1.32 per cent, Infra 1.02 per cent, Energy 0.69 per cent, Auto 0.43 per cent, and IT 0.42 per cent.

The Index gainers were Lupin (5.24 per cent), Hindalco (4.29 per cent), Asianpaint (3.78 per cent), Tata Steel (3.88 per cent), NTPC (3.73 per cent), Idea (2.47 per cent) and Bosch Ltd (2.03 per cent).

The laggards list included M&M (2.24 percent), HDFC (1.82 percent), PowerGrid (1.14 percent), BhartiAirtel (1.12 per cent) and HDFC Bank (1.11 per cent).

A total of 1259 scrips advanced, 358 declined while 57 remained unchanged. Total securities that hit their price bands were 143. Turnover in the cash segment rose to Rs 18,594.61 crs, from Rs 18,359.60 crore as on Tuesday.

A total of 8,620.97 lakh shares changed hands in 79,93,364 trades. The market capitalisation of NSE stood at Rs 1,02,48,791.84 crore.

PTI