The Sensex and Nifty closed slightly higher on Monday after three consecutive sessions of falls as investors saw less chance of Republican nominee Donald Trump winning next month's US presidential election after a debate against Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
The broader NSE index ended up 11.2 points or 0.13 per cent at 8,708.80 after falling 0.82 per cent in the past three sessions, while the benchmark BSE index closed 21.2 points or 0.08 per cent higher at 28,082.34.
Indian financial markets will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for public holidays.
Among BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables index gained the most by 1.69 per cent, metal 1.48 per cent, IT 1.05 per cent and TECk 0.84 per cent. On the other hand, realty index fell 1.21 per cent, oil & gas 0.59 per cent, PSU 0.32 per cent and power 0.22 per cent.
Top five Sensex gainers were Tata Steel (+2.71%), Asian Paints (+2.22%), Cipla (+1.9%), Infosys (+1.67%) and Lupin (+1.17%), while the major losers were NTPC (-1.28%), Bharti Airtel (-1.27%), Reliance (-1.26%), Adani Ports (-1.14%) and HDFC (-0.96%).
Global risk appetite improved with Asian stocks and US stock futures creeping higher after a controversy over Trump's vulgar comments about women raised expectations that his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton would win the White House in the November 8 election.
The daily stock trading volume was weak ahead of public holidays on October 11 and Oct. 12. The NSE index saw less than a quarter of the 5-day average volume in the first two hours of trading.
The next key trigger will be July-September results starting October 13, said traders, adding the earnings recovery was likely to strengthen due to improvement in the economy and consumption trends.
“General impression is that Clinton is a better President for the whole world... But there's no point building hopes based on a single event, we'll have to wait till the third debate and getting closer to the elections when a lot of fence sitters make up their mind,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.
“For now, our markets don't have any trigger to rise sharply from here, so we're seeing some consolidation ahead of earnings announcement.”
This week, software services provider Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys are due to report their quarterly results.
Asian shares crept higher and the Mexican peso climbed on Monday as markets saw less chance a victory by Republican nominee Donald Trump in his US presidential bid amid a scandal over vulgar comments he made about women.