NEW DELHI: Stocks closed in green for third straight day on Tuesday even as market players turned cautious ahead of start of December quarter earnings season.
A solid start in European markets on hopes that Washington and Beijing are closer to a trade deal, coupled with rejuvenated Italian bank stocks, buoyed sentiment back home.
Otherwise, most Asian shares were knocked off by a shock profit warning from technology giant Samsung.In a session that was marked by high volatility, bank stocks were lead index gainers, with ICICI Bank contributing to over 50 per cent of Sensex's upmove.The 30-share index settled higher by 131 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 35,981 while its NSE counterpart Nifty rose 30 points, or 0.28 per cent, to close day at 10,802.In Sensex bloc, 16 advanced and 14 declined.
Sun Pharma turned out to be lead hitter, up 3.98 per cent.
ICICI Bank, SBI, YES Bank, Tata Motors and Axis Bank were among other gainers, climbing up to 3.46 per cent.ICICI Bank shares scaled fresh 52-week highs of Rs 381.60 in intraday trade today.In 50-share Nifty pack, 24 stocks ended in green while 26 lost.Midcap stocks underperformed benchmark Sensex and slipped 0.16 per cent whereas BSE Smallcap index advanced 0.17 per cent.Telecom, bankex and healthcare were among top sectoral gainers.
Meanwhile, utilities, capital goods and realty stocks declined.
What all factors moved Sensex today1.
Trade woes easeThe optimism over possibility of a truce between US and China on trade front helped market edge higher for third straight day.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday had said talks were going very well, adding that weakness in Chinese economy has given Beijing a reason to work towards a deal, Reuters reported.
US officials meet their counterparts in Beijing this week for first face-to-face talks since Trump and Chinas President Xi Jinping in December agreed to a 90-day truce in a trade war that has roiled international markets.
2.
Firm start to European marketsEuropean shares hit a three-week high on Tuesday as hopes of a possible trade deal between China and US offset worries over global growth and Italian banks rose after Rome moved in support of troubled lender Carige.
However, Asia was knocked back by a shock profit warning from tech giant Samsung and uptick in borrowing costs.
3.
Eye on Q3 earningsThe domestic market witnessed some cautiousness in today's session ahead of start of December quarter earnings.
IndusInd Bank is first Nifty50 company to report its Q3 numbers tomorrow.There is some profit booking after rally we saw in previous session and there is a lack of trigger for further upside in market, Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Securities, told Reuters.
We see a bit of caution ahead of start of another earnings season.
Expert-take:Jayant Manglik, President, Religare BrokingWe continue to remain cautiously optimistic on Indian markets in near term.
The focus of investors would shift to Q3 FY19 earnings season and domestic macro data (IIP, CPI and WPI), which are likely to dictate trend of market in coming sessions.
Further, market participants would closely monitor progress of trade talks between US and China, behaviour of crude oil prices and fluctuation in currency as it would further induce volatility in markets.
We would advise investors to stay focused on select blue chip companies while traders should strictly hedge their leveraged positions.Satish Kumar, Senior Research Analyst, Choice BrokingAmid mixed global cues, domestic indices opened in red.
However, it posted a strong comeback in afternoon session, driven by strong buying in cooperative banks and pharma stocks.
Market continued its firm trade till its last session and closed up by around 0.3 per cent.
Rupee depreciated sharply against dollar as crude prices continued to inch towards $60.
Optimism over US-China trade will boost market sentiment in upcoming week.
Since there are no major domestic events coming up this week, global cues will continue to influence domestic indices.