Sensex rebounds on bargain buying; sentiment remains cautious

Buying activity picked up momentum in the later part of the session largely in tandem with strong opening of European shares.

The overall recovery received some support from consumer durables, realty, oil & gas, metal and banking stocks which recouped their losses to an extent.

The NSE Nifty also moved up by 39.35 points, or 0.40 per cent, to end at 9,952.20, after moving between 9,963.10 and 9,901.05.

Meanwhile, the services sector activity in India suffered the second consecutive month of contraction in August as business activity and new work orders got affected by the Goods and Services Tax (GST), a monthly survey has found.

The Nikkei India PMI said in its survey, activity Index improved slightly from 45.9 registered in July to 47.5 in August.

The Sensex opened higher and hit the day's high of 31,863.47 as banking, auto and IT stocks advanced. But profit-booking triggered by weak Asian markets dragged the barometer to a low of 31,674.23 in afternoon session.

It finally closed higher by 107.30 points, or 0.34 per cent, at 31,809.55 on strong European cues.

The Sensex had lost 189.98 points in the previous session in line with a general weakness cross the globe fuelled by North Korea's nuclear test on Sunday.