Sensex pares gains, up 311 points at 31,524.68; Nifty climbs 127 points

Mumbai: The market recorded gains in during the truncated trading week, with benchmark Sensex rising 311.09 to close at 31,524.68, while the broader Nifty
garnering 126.60 points to finish at 9,837.40.

The week saw the investors sentiment calmed following easing geo-political tension with North Korea deciding against executing last week's threat to launch missiles towards the US territory of Guam, while dovish tone emanated despite US Fed's minutes stating uncertainities on rate hike.

Market players followed instinct as bargain hunting in recently beaten down shares and stock specific action lifting the key indices, it was also fuelled by hectic buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs).

The government GST rate revision lifted FMCG stocks, while announcement of share buy-back by IT major Infosys slos supported the sentiment.

However, the good gains were thwarted by surprise exit of Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka and terrorist attacks in Spain (Barcelona) and worries about the Trump administration's ability to push through its economic agenda cast negative
impact on the market.

The stock market was closed on Tuesday 15th August for 'Independence Day'.
After opening at 31,299.52 points, the benchmark traded between 31,937.51 and 31,298.90 before finishing the week at 31,524.68, showing a gain of 311.09 or 1.00 per cent.

The Sensex slumped by 1,111.82 points or 3.44 per cent last week.
The Nifty started the week at 9,755.75 and hovered between 9,947.80 and 9,752.10 The index finally closed at 9,837.40, up 126.60 points, or 1.30 per cent from last Friday's close.

The Nifty lost 355.60 points or 3.53 per cent during previous week.
The gains were led by Realty, Metal, FMCG, Power, Consumer Durable, IPOs, Oil&Gas, PSUs, Auto, Capital Goods and HealthCare sectors, while secondline midcap and smallcap shares also ended with substantial gains.

IT and Teck ended the week with losses.