(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The Sensex and the Nifty started the week on a positive note helped by IT and pharma stocks, even as the benchmark indices failed to hold on to the strong gains made earlier in the day.
Sensex closed 277 points higher at 38,973, while Nifty settled at 11,503, up 0.7%. Mid-caps were the under-performers in today's trade.
Tata group companies TCS and Tata Steel were the biggest gainers, while Bharti Airtel and bajaj Finserv were the prominent laggards on the Sensex. In all, 14 stocks advanced on the index, 15 declined and one scrip was unchanged.
On the Nifty, 29 stocks advanced and 20 declined and one stock was unchanged. The volatility index, VIX, jumped almost 8% yesterday.
'The index became a little cautious at the day high and did not go back to claim that figure of 11,575-11,580. However, the trend remains positive. We can expect to achieve the levels of 11,600 and then 11,800. We are in the bullish territory until 11,300 holds. Hence, a buy on dips strategy can be considered, said Manish Hathiramani, proprietary index trader and technical analyst, Deen Dayal Investments.
Meanwhile the rupee depreciated by 16 paise to close at 73.29 (provisional) against the US dollar yesterday even as the domestic equity market was trading with significant gains.
The Indian currency opened at 73.16 at the interbank forex market and touched an intra-day high of 73.08 and a low of 73.41 against the greenback. It finally settled for the day at 73.29, down 16 paise over its last close of 73.13 a dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.17% to 93.68.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs1,632.25 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.
Forex and equity markets were closed on Friday.
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