Sensex gains 50 pts, Nifty trades below 18,600; auto, IT stocks shine

Domestic equities opened higher on Monday ahead of May’s inflation and IIP data. BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 135.81 points, or 0.22 per cent higher to open at 62,761.44, while broader NSE Nifty50 gained 30.75 points, or 0.17 per cent to 18,594.15.

By 9.26 am, Sensex was up 52.08 points, or 0.08 per cent to 62,677.71, while NSE Nifty50 was trading 17.95 points, or 0.1 per cent higher at 18,581.35.

Broader markets extended the rally, as Nifty Microcap 250 gained 0.48 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 50 rose 0.40 per cent, Nifty Smallcap 250 climbed 0.35 per cent, and Nifty Total Market rose 0.18 per cent.

Sectorally, Nifty Realty climbed 0.92 per cent, Nifty Auto gained 0.51 per cent, the Nifty IT index jumped 0.46 per cent, and media and metal indices gained 0.41 per cent each.

According to a poll by Reuters, May’s retail inflation might have cooled to a 20-month low of 4.42 per cent as a rise in food prices continued to slow. Meanwhile, monetary policy decisions by the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank will also guide markets this week.

BPCL, Infosys, M&M, HCLTech, SBI Life, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Life, and Hindustan Unilever were the top gainers in the opening trade.

On the other hand, Divis Lab, ONGC, IndusInd Bank, PowerGrid, Reliance Industries, UPL, Maruti Suzuki, L&T, Cipla and Titan were the top losers at this hour.