Surgical strikes across the LoC spook the sensex

After witnessing a sharp fall on Thursday due to geo-political concerns, markets rebounded and ended flat on the first day of October series despite weak global cues.

The S&P BSE Sensex ended up 38 points to settle at 27,866 and the Nifty50 settled 20 points higher at 8,611. In the broader market, both the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices outperformed the front-liners with gains of 2% each.

On Thursday, markets ended at their lowest closing levels since August 26, 2016 as risk-aversion prevailed following September F&O expiry and concerns over foreign capital outflows amid geo-political tensions arising between India and Pakistan after the Indian Army conducted surgical strikes across LoC in Pakistan on Wednesday night.

Top gainers from the Sensex pack included GAIL, M&M, ONGC, Power Grid and Tata Steel, all surging between 1%-3%. On the losing side, Cipla, ITC, Coal India, Bharti Airtel and HUL slipped between 1%-3%.

Sensex, Nifty consolidate; midcaps at record high, Tata Steel up

Markets consolidated with midcaps at record high. The Bank Nifty closed at its highest level in the last 17-months high. The Sensex was down 46.44 points or 0.2 percent at 28077 and the Nifty was down 6.35 points at 8666.90. About 1480 shares have advanced, 1237 shares declined, and 182 shares are unchanged.

In stock specific action SBI remained on buyers’ radar gained 4 percent as investors gave a thumbs up to its merger ratio. All SBI associates including State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur jumped.

BHEL, Tata Steel, HUL and Cipla were other top gainers while Coal India, TCS, Lupin, Sun Pharma and M&M were losers in the Sensex.