Mumbai: The BSE Sensex edged higher on Monday, rebounding from two-month lows, as Bharti Airtel advanced after more brokerages upgraded the stock and auto makers rose on hopes of rising sales during the festival season. However, the Nifty fell, with sentiment cautious ahead of the winter session of Parliament which is set to start on Thursday.
Parliament is due to meet amid a slew of negative news flows around the current account and fiscal deficits, a slowing economy and the prospect of no monetary relief until 2013. Analysts says the government's will to pass reforms is critical to revive the stock markets that have faltered over the past month and a half. "Going by the track record of the opposition, what happened in last session, there can be drama that need not be positive," said VK Vijayakumar, an investment strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas. The market also remains sceptical about the head winds in the eurozone, added Vijayakumar.
The 30-share BSE Sensex moved up 29.63 points or 0.27 per cent to close at 18,339. However, the 50-share NSE Nifty fell 2.65 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 5,571.40 after trading in a range of 5,549.25-5,592.75.
Telecom stocks extended a recent rally after last week's auction of 2G spectrum fetched lower prices than the government had targeted. Shares in Bharti Airtel rose 2.7 per cent, posting five straight days of gains as more brokerages upgraded the stock after the 2G spectrum auction.
Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs upgraded Bharti to the equivalent of 'buy', citing greater clarity on the regulatory front and reduced competitiveness in the domestic sector. Shares in Maruti Suzuki India rose 3.9 per cent and Mahindra & Mahindra gained 1.6 per cent on hopes of rising sales this month as part of the festival season.
Both Maruti and Mahindra & Mahindra will outperform the sector in the near-term, Indian brokerage Sharekhan said in an email to clients, citing a "strong" order backlog. Other auto makers that gained included Bajaj Auto Ltd which rose 2.04 per cent. Hero MotoCorp Ltd was up 1.5 per cent.
Shares in ITC Ltd also gained on value buying after falling 5.3 per cent over the last six sessions.
Shares in Honeywell Automation India Ltd (HONE.NS) surged 16.5 per cent after news channel CNBC TV 18 reported parent company, Honeywell Asia Pacific was considering delisting the shares of the company, citing unidentified sources. However, Honeywell Automation called the report incorrect in a statement to the exchange.
Among the decliners, rate-sensitive stocks fell on worries that last week's data showing easing inflation is unlikely to result in a repo rate cut this year. HDFC fell 1.3 per cent, while Axis Bank ended 1 per cent lower.
Shares in India's Tata Global Beverages fell 5.33 per cent after Morgan Stanley downgraded the stock to "underweight" from "equal weight". Morgan Stanley said the contribution from the Starbucks JV will be limited and recommended booking profits on Tata Global.
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