Indian stocks gain for eight straight session; Rupee largely steady

NEW DELHI: Indian stock indices extended their gains for the eighth straight session on Monday, led by strength in auto and metal stocks coupled with good second-quarter corporate earnings for India Inc.

At 9.42 am, Sensex traded at 59,854.76 points, up 23.10 points or 0.039 per cent, whereas Nifty traded at 17,749.35 points, up 18.60 points or 0.10 per cent.

Stock indices during the auspicious hour of the Muhurat trading on Diwali eve went up as Sensex surged 562 points to 59,869.22 and Nifty50 rose 157 points to 17,733.40 level on Monday. The special trading window marks the beginning of Samvat 2079, and buying assets is considered auspicious on this day.

"The initial months of Samvat 2079 are likely to be highly volatile with alternative bouts of selling and buying in the mother market US, which will have repercussions on other markets including India's," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Notably, foreign portfolio investors have withdrawn funds worth Rs 5,992 crore from Indian stock markets so far in October and become net sellers for the second straight month amid the strong US dollar index, weak rupee, and tightening of monetary policy.

"In this highly uncertain environment clarity is emerging on some important trends: one, the US economy is slowing down and the most likely scenario is a short and mild recession, which the market has largely discounted. India's growth too will be impacted by a global slowdown but India will be the least impacted large economy."

He said investors can approach Samvat 2079 with cautious optimism and remain invested in high-quality stocks and buy on declines in performing sectors like banking, capital goods, telecom and autos.

Meanwhile, the rupee opened largely steady this morning at around 82.69-82.71.

On Wednesday, the rupee breached the 83 mark for the first time in its history. So far this year, the rupee has depreciated around 11-12 per cent, market data showed.