Stock market October 20: NIFTY50 and SENSEX touch new 52-week high levels; Reliance, Kotak bank among top gainers

Indian equity markets made a gap-up opening on Monday, amid strong global cues. Traders to reacted positively to the Q2 results from heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, and ICICI Bank. Additionally, sentiments may remain upbeat by foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who were net buyers of shares worth ₹ 308.98 crore.

The NIFTY50 opened 114 points higher at 25,824 on Monday morning. The index opened with 44 stocks in green and 2 in red, while 4 were unchanged. Reliance Industries (+2/4%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (+2.1%), Axis Bank (+1.9%), Bajaj Finance (+1.4%) and Shriram Finance (+1.3%) were the top gainers on Monday morning.

The SENSEX jumped 614 points higher at the 84,566 level on Monday morning, with 27 out of the 30 stocks trading in green and three in red. Reliance Industries, Kotak Bank, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, Infosys were the top gainers, while ICICI Bank, Ultratech Cement, Tech Mahindra were the top losers.

The majority of the sectoral indices traded in green with NIFTY Oil & Gas as the top gainer with 1.1% gains, followed by NIFTY Mid-Small Healthcare and financial services, NIFTY PSU Bank, and Private Banks gained up to 1% on Monday morning. The NIFTY Consumer Durables and Realty were the top losers with 0.1% losses

The Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has said that talks between India and the US on a proposed bilateral trade agreement are progressing in a cordial atmosphere, and New Delhi will protect the interests of farmers, fishermen and MSME sectors. Piyush Goyal will also visit Brussels later this month to give an impetus to the ongoing negotiations for a free trade agreement between India and the European Union (EU).