Sensex breaks four-session fall on value buying

Reversing a four-session slide, the benchmark Sensex closed positive at 32,870 on Monday, as investors cherry-picked recently beaten down stocks in information technology (IT), metal and health care space.

Infosys was the top performer in the Sensex pack, rising 2.80 per cent, after the IT major announced the appointment of Salil Parekh as chief executive officer and managing director (CEO & MD).

Trading was volatile throughout the session, ahead of RBI's monetary policy review and Gujarat elections later this week.

The central bank is scheduled to announce the fifth bimonthly policy of the current fiscal year on December 6.

A fresh spell of buying by domestic investors in recently beaten-down stocks helped the key indices to trade in the positive zone after four days of losses, brokers said.

After a strong start at 32,968.02, the Sensex reclaimed the 33,000-mark to hit a high of 33,008.62 points but profit-booking at higher levels capped the gains. It finally closed at 32,869.72, up 36.78 points, or 0.11 per cent.

The gauge had tanked 891.50 points in the previous four sessions as upbeat second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) numbers failed to dispel concerns over a widening fiscal deficit.

The 50-share NSE Nifty inched up 5.95 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 10,127.75 points. Intra-day, it shuttled between 10,179.20 and 10,095.70.

"Market was sidewise and finally settled with minor gains as investors remained watchful ahead of two days of RBI monetary policy starting from Tuesday. Rebound in IT stocks due to favourable developments in heavyweights gained investors confidence and capped the fall in the market," said Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services.

Major gainers were HUL 1.37 per cent, HDFC with 1.25 per cent and Tata Motors with 1.06 per cent.