Stock markets surge for 4th day; Sensex jumps over 411 points
Mumbai (PTI): Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty ended higher on Monday, taking their winning run to the fourth day in a row, driven by buying in blue-chip Reliance Industries and sustained foreign fund inflows.
A sharp rally in global markets also added to the markets' optimism.
The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 411.18 points or 0.49 per cent to settle at 84,363.37. During the day, it zoomed 704.37 points or 0.83 per cent to 84,656.56.
The 50-share NSE Nifty surged 133.30 points or 0.52 per cent to 25,843.15.
From the Sensex firms, Reliance Industries climbed 3.52 per cent after the firm on Friday reported a 9.6 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit for the September quarter, driven by strong performance in its consumer-facing retail and telecom businesses and a recovery in its core oil-to-chemicals segment.
Bajaj Finserv, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, Titan and Bharti Airtel were also among the gainers.
However, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eternal, Adani Ports and Power Grid were among the laggards.
In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi, Japan's Nikkei 225 index, Shanghai's SSE Composite index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng settled higher.
Markets in Europe were trading in the green.
US markets ended in positive territory on Friday.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 308.98 crore on Friday, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also bought stocks worth Rs 1,526.61 crore on the same day.
"The Indian market extended its upward march on Monday, carrying forward the festive rally ahead of the Diwali Muhurat trading session. The Nifty-50 climbed, driven by strong buying in index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries," Ponmudi R, CEO of Enrich Money, an online trading and wealth tech firm, said.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.29 per cent to USD 61.11 a barrel.
"The Indian market extended its positive momentum, driven by better-than-expected Q2 results from major companies and festival optimism," Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.
The BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.69 per cent and smallcap index went up by 0.59 per cent.
Among sectoral indices, energy jumped 1.48 per cent, teck (1.33 per cent), telecommunication (1.22 per cent), oil & gas (1.10 per cent), BSE Focused IT (1.05 per cent) and IT (0.96 per cent).
BSE commodities, FMCG, auto and power were the laggards.
"Markets began the week on an upbeat note and extended their upward momentum, largely supported by favourable domestic cues. The market's strength was underpinned by upbeat quarterly results from heavyweights such as Reliance, HDFC Bank, along with expectations of sustained foreign inflows amid improving global risk sentiment," Ajit Mishra – SVP, Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.
A total of 2,530 stocks advanced while 1,740 declined and 194 remained unchanged on the BSE.
On Friday, the Sensex jumped 484.53 points or 0.58 per cent to settle at 83,952.19. The Nifty climbed 124.55 points or 0.49 per cent to 25,709.85.
Last week, the BSE benchmark jumped 1,451.37 points or 1.75 per cent, and the Nifty surged 424.5 points or 1.67 per cent.
Stock exchanges BSE and NSE will conduct a special Muhurat trading session on Tuesday.
The symbolic trading session will be held between 1:45 pm and 2:45 pm. The market will remain closed for regular trading on Tuesday, but a special trading window will be open for one hour.
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Ex-PM Devegowda warns opposition of electoral losses if they continue to allege 'vote chori'
New Delhi (PTI): Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda on Monday said the Opposition parties would "suffer" if they continue to raise allegations of "vote chori" and create suspicion in the minds of voters by blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government.
Participating in a discussion on election reforms in the Rajya Sabha, he criticised the Opposition for making a mockery about the Prime Minister "in the streets and on the public platform".
"This (India) is a very big country. A large country. Congress may be in three states. Remember my friends please, by using the words 'vote chori' you are going to suffer in the coming days. You are not going to win the battle," Devegowda said, referring to the Opposition members.
He asked what the Opposition is going to earn by "blaming Narendra Modi's leadership and creating a suspicion in the mind of the voters" through the claims of "vote chori".
"What has happened to their minds? Let them rectify," Devegowda said.
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The former prime minister said that during his over seven decades of public life, he has never raised such issues of vote theft despite facing defeat in elections.
He also cited a letter written by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru regarding inclusion of "18,000 votes" (voters) in Kerala.
"Why I am telling this (because) during the Nehru period also, there were certain lapses in the electoral system," said Devegowda, who was the prime minister between June 1, 1996 and April 21, 1997.
He said that the Congress party faced defeat in the recent Bihar elections despite raising the issues of mistakes in the electoral rolls.
"What happened after that even after so much review (of voters list). Think (for) yourself! You got six MLAs," the senior Janata Dal (Secular) leader said.
Devegowda questioned the Opposition as to why they want to make allegations against the prime minister on the issue of the voters list?
"Election Commission is there. Supreme Court is there. The Election Commission has given direction to all the state units to rectify all these things," he said.
Devegowda said people of the country have full confidence in Narendra Modi's government and it will come back to power after the next Lok Sabha elections as well.
K R Suresh Reddy, Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) party's Rajya Sabha member from Telangana, said that electoral reforms are the backbone for a healthy democracy.
He said a large and diverse nation like Indi needs clean electoral rolls.
Asserting that strict re-verification should not become a mechanism for exclusion, Reddy said no eligible voter should lose their right to vote simply because accessing paperwork is difficult.
He said while the concern definitely is on the voters' exclusion, "we should also be equally concerned about the percentage of voting."
"What is happening in voting today? Once the election ends, the drama begins. The biggest challenge that the Indian democracy has been facing in spite of two major Constitutional amendments has been the anti-defection. Anti-defection is the name of the game today, especially in smaller states, especially where the legislatures are small in number," Reddy said.
The senior BRS leader suggested creation of a parliamentary committee "which would constantly look into the defection" and "ways and means to cutting that".
AIADMK's M Thambidurai raised the issues related to election campaigning.
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"Election campaigns are one of the important election processes. In that, political parties must be given the proper chance to campaign," he said and cited problems faced by his party in Tamil Nadu in this regard.
Thambidurai said political parties were facing hardships in Tamil Nadu to conduct public meetings and to express their views to the public.
YSRCP's Yerram Venkata Subba Reddy stressed on bringing electoral reforms at both the state and national levels.
He also suggested replacing Electronic Voting Machines with paper ballots in all future elections.
"EVM may be efficient but can't be trusted. Paper ballot may not be efficient but can be trusted. You need trust in democracy," Reddy added.
