Sensex, Nifty snap three-day losing streak

In a highly volatile session, value-buying by investors in recently-battered banking, oil & gas and auto stocks reversed the three-session losing streak, helping the Sensex and Nifty to close on a positive note on Monday.

The Sensex swung over 660 points both ways on alternate bouts of selling and buying. The 30-share Sensex touched a high of 34,636.43 on the back of sustained buying by domestic institutional investors, but later turned choppy and hit a low of 33,974.66 as selling pressure gathered momentum. However, amid buying towards the fag-end, it recovered to close the day higher by 97.39 points, or 0.28 per cent, at 34,474.38.

The 30-scrip gauge had lost 2,149.15 points in the previous three straight sessions.

The 50-share NSE Nifty too recovered by 31.60 points, or 0.31 per cent, to end at 10,348.05. During the session, it moved between 10,198.40 and 10,398.35. Besides valuebuying, covering-up of short positions by investors aided the recovery in the market.

Top gainers in the Sensex include, Yes Bank climbing 7.08 per cent, followed by RIL at 5.53 per cent. Hero MotoCorp also surged 5.14 per cent, Kotak Bank 4.62 per cent, SBI 3.18 per cent, Asian Paint 2.99 per cent, ONGC 1.94 per cent, Bajaj Auto 1.83 per cent, Coal India 1.75 per cent, ICICI Bank 1.35 per cent, Sun Pharma 0.91 per cent, M&M 0.76 per cent, Adani Ports 0.73 per cent, NTPC 0.28 per cent and Maruti Suzuki 0.16 per cent.