Indian shares ended slightly higher on Monday as investors looked past surging coronavirus infections at home and took cues from global shares, which edged up following a Wall Street-led rout in technology stocks last week.
The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed up 0.19% at 11,355.05, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex ended 0.16% higher at 38,417.23. Both indices fell over 2.6% last week.
"A small bounceback was due and so long as the liquidity situation remains okay, we won't see too much downside," said Samrat Dasgupta, chief executive officer at Esquire Capital Investment Advisors.
"Unless we have a situation where lockdown starts again or we have to reverse the unlock process, I don't see the (rising coronavirus cases) as a big concern," Dasgupta added.
Coronavirus infections surged past 4.2 million, making India overtake Brazil to be the country with the second-highest number of cases.
World shares were up 0.2%, after losing $2.3 trillion in the last two sessions in a technology stocks-led rout. European shares also bounced, on a day where market activity was likely to be subdued.
In Mumbai, debt-ridden telecoms carrier Vodafone Idea Ltd ended 2.1% higher after the company unveiled a rebranding on Monday. It had on Friday approved fundraising of up to Rs 25,000 crore ($3.40 billion), as it tries to pay off hefty dues it owes to the government.
The Nifty IT index closed 0.57% higher. IT major Tata Consultancy Services Ltd rose 1.7% and was the top boost to the Nifty 50.
The Nifty energy and Nifty auto indexes closed lower by 0.51% and 0.48%, respectively.
HDFC Bank Ltd and Bajaj Finance Ltd were the top drags on the Nifty, falling 0.8% and 2.6%, respectively.
