Andrew L D'Cunha

Mumbai, Oct 10: Indian stocks closed higher on Monday, extending Friday’s gains  as investors continued  to buy blue chip and beaten-down equities after recent dramatic declines. BSE Sensex, which had gained 440 points in the previous session, gained another 325 points to close the day at 16,557. Nifty The Nifty closed at 4,980, up 92 points.

The two heavyweights in Sensex  Reliance and Infosys jumped 3.3 per cent and 3.36 per cent respectively. IT majors TCS gained 2.03 per cent; Wipro, 4.42 per cent and HCLT, 2.41 per cent. Tata Motors was the top gainer on the Sensex, up 7% followed by Tata Power and DLF, up between almost 5% each. Maruti Suzuki was the prominent loser, down 4%.

Going forward Indian markets will take cues from second quarter results. Infosys declares Q2 earnings on Wednesday. Analysts are expecting good set of numbers  from Infosys owing to the rupee depreciation Margin pressures have dented the profitability of Indian companies  over the past few quarters and are likely to continue in Q2 FY’12 as well.  Apart from corporate earnings, IIP or factory output data for August may impact the sentiment to an extent

Asian stocks were flat on Monday after Germany and France said they agreed on a plan to support the European banking sector. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up 0.02%, Shanghai Composite Index down by 0.6%

European stocks posted modest gains Monday after policy makers from Germany and France shown their initiative to unveil a package of measures to respond to the crisis by the end of the month

Gold  gained Rs 260 to Rs 26,920 per 10 grams, silver rose by Rs 500 to Rs 53,500 per kg. on fresh buying by stockists, driven by a firming trend in global markets.

Andrew L D'Cunha, Managing Director, WinWin Fin  Advisory Pvt. Ltd. Mangalore. Email:  finadvisoryltd@yahoo.com.