Indian Shares End Higher After Late-session Buying

(RTTNews) - Indian shares moved in a narrow range before ending marginally higher on Monday, tracking mixed cues from global markets.

Benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty closed slightly higher, after having snapped their seven-session winning streak on Sunday's special Muhurat trading session.

Investors reacted to mixed catalysts, with the U.S. dollar giving back some of Friday's gains and oil extending last week's losses while stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs data added to the case for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Brent crude futures fell below $97 a barrel following remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump that renewed military strikes on Iran were "highly unlikely" while talks to end their eight-month-old conflict continue.

At the same time, Trump left the door open for additional strikes, claiming three U.S. aircraft carriers were positioned in the region and that the U.S. had identified Iranian bridges and power plants as potential targets.

Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran talks have made no progress, describing Tehran's demands so far as unacceptable and warning that the U.S. could respond to threats against its forces.

The 30-share BSE Sensex inched up by 107.25 points, or 0.13 percent, to 81,106.65, while the NSE Nifty index closed 58.25 points, or 0.23 percent, higher at 25,044.65.

The BSE mid-cap index edged up 0.3 percent while the small-cap index slipped 0.2 percent.

The market breadth was weak on the BSE, with 2,419 shares falling while 2,011 shares rose and 249 shares closed unchanged.

Among the top gainers, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, NTPC, Larsen & Toubro, Trent and SBI surged 1-2 percent.

Information technology stocks suffered heavy losses, with Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies all falling around 2 percent, as AI jitters eased and the Indian rupee extended its rally to reach a six-month high, supported by foreign investment inflows.

Among other prominent decliners, ITC, Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement and Tata Steel all fell around 2 percent.