The surprise peace between warring Ambani brothers powered stock markets on Monday, with the benchmark Sensex shooting up by 312 points in early trade but swift profit booking minutes before the closing bell saw the index ending just 24 points higher.
After swinging wildly during the day, the 30-share index of the Bombay Stock Exchange ended at 16,469.55 points, up by 0.15 per cent, or 23.94 points.
The index oscillated between a high of 16,757.73 and low of 16,413.03, indicating high volatility.
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The National Stock Exchange’s 50-share Nifty too moved in the same way and closed 12.80 points higher at 4,943.95.
Shares of companies belonging to Mukesh and Anil Ambani groups emerged as top gainers. Mukesh-led petrochemical giant RIL, which has maximum weight on Sensex, surged 2.58 per cent.
Among the Anil Ambani Group stocks, RCOM and R—Infra shot up by 10.87 per cent and 6.23 per cent respectively, to emerge as the two best Sensex performers of the day.
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RNRL, another scrip belonging to Anil Ambani Group, zoomed 22 per cent. The other group stocks RCap, RelMediaWorld posted around five per cent gain each.
The two Ambani brothers on Sunday decided to bury their differences and create an environment of harmony, co-operation and collaboration between their Groups, saying this would eliminate any room for further “disputes“.
“Had it not been for RIL that contributed about 60 points on the Sensex, the markets would have ended in the negative territory” IIFL’s VP (Research) Amar Ambani said.
Reliance Industrial Infra, a scrip belonging to Mukesh group, rallied 11.35 per cent.
Markets cheered the surprise thaw between them but profit taking washed away almost the entire gains of the day, experts said.
“Investors are cautious amid continuing volatility in the stock markets across the globe and they do not want to miss a single chance to take profit,” Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Research Head Alex Mathews said.
Analysts attributed the sharp rise in intra—day also to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks that inflation would come down to 5—6 per cent by December and projection of 8.5 per cent economic growth for this fiscal.
Other big Sensex stocks which closed up include Hero Honda at 1.31 per cent, L&T 1.25 per cent.
On sectoral front, oil & gas, power and consumer goods led the gain, while realty, metals front line losers.
Among the losers, Hindalco plunged 3.93 per cent, Grasim by 2.43 per cent, DLF 2.21 per cent and M&M 1.88 per cent.
On global front, China’s benchmark Shanghai index surged 3.48 per cent, while Japan’s Nekkie ended in red with a fall of 0.27 per cent. European markets were firm. Over the weekend, the US stocks had ended with gain.