Nifty ends with moderate gains; ONGC, RIL, NTPC, SBI lead

Equity benchmarks closed with moderate gains on Monday, led by buying in oil & gas exploration, metal, realty, power, capital goods and select healthcare companies' shares along with SBI, Bharti, Tata Motors and M&M. The Nifty surpassed 6050 level as well during the day but sell-off in FMCG, technology, cement and private financial companies' shares dragged the index below that level in last couple of hours.

Aadil Ebrahim investment manager at Bowen Capital Management, says the Nifty may surpass its earlier peak of 6,350. ''We are definitely in a boom market phase right now. A lot of the market momentum is being driven by foreign investors.''

The market has been continued its uptrend for the fourth week and rallied in 12 out of 15 sessions on the back of strong inflow of funds from foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Indian markets witnessed highest-ever monthly FIIs inflow in September. They were net buyers to the tune of around Rs 22,000 crore, including September 24's provisional data, in the month of September. Indian rupee has been appreciating; it was trading at 45.13/USD, up 0.11/USD.

Pratik Gupta Head at Deutsche Equities (India) maintains a bullish outlook on the back of global liquidity, bulk of which is coming from US and European funds. ''This will continue as we may see further quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve. Also, many fund houses are still discovering India as an investment option,'' he said.

He further goes on to say, ''Inflation here is coming under control. Also, these have been one of the best monsoons in the country,'' however India is not alone in this rally, ''many markets are nearing peak''.

Indices witnessed volatility in the second half of trade today ahead of F&O expiry on Thursday; the Nifty September futures ended at 12 points premium and October futures at 29 points premium, as per provisional data.