The Sensex and Nifty ended higher due to bargain-hunting in recently-beaten stocks though investors remained cautious ahead of January month derivatives expiry on Wednesday and the federal budget next week.
The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 82.84 points or 0.31 per cent at 27,117.34 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed up 42.15 points or 0.5 per cent at 8,391.
Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index gained the most by 2.61 per cent, followed by PSU 1.26 per cent, oil & gas 1.15 per cent and FMCG 0.99 per cent. On the other hand, capital goods index was down 0.56 per cent and healthcare 0.52 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were GAIL (+2.41%), HDFC (1.77%), Tata Motors (+1.72%), Tata Steel (+1.55%) and Hero MotoCorp (+1.55%), while the major losers were ICICI Bank (-2.26%), L&T (-1.49%), Axis Bank (-1.2%), Sun Pharma (-1.00%) and Reliance (-0.95%).
Traders are in a wait-and-watch mode ahead of the government's 2017/18 budget to be unveiled on February 1 amid hopes for incentives to support an economy hit by cash shortages after a ban on higher-value banknotes.
“Markets have been on a cautionary stance ahead of the speech (Trump's inauguration speech), but have now bounced back slightly,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
“It's more about bargain-hunting, and markets are not keen on giving away gains a week before the budget.”
A report by SMC Global said: "Most of the Asian stocks declined today as traders reacted for the first time to Donald Trump’s inauguration. Demand for safe haven assets rose while the US dollar slumped after Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said that the greenback could strengthen in the Trump presidency. US stocks closed modestly higher Friday, recouping much of the market's loss from a day earlier. US housing starts jumped by 11.3 per cent to an annual rate of 1.226 million in December after tumbling by 16.5 per cent to a revised November rate of 1.102 million. Economists had expected housing starts to rise to an annual rate of 1.200 million from the 1.090 million originally reported for the previous month."