Nifty gains 98 points to end above 10,200 mark

The NSE Nifty ended higher by 98 points at 10,211.80 on the first trading day of the new financial year led by buying in pharma, auto, IT, Infra, media, realty, metal and energy sectors.

Investors are looking forward to the Reserve Bank of India's first bi-monthly policy decision of FY2018-19 to be held later this week.

However, financial stocks were a laggard through the day, dented by weak sentiment. Nifty PSU Bank ended lower, but Nifty Bank, in the last hour trade, staged a recovery.

Overseas, European financial markets remained closed today in observance of Easter Monday.

Asian shares edged lower amid fears that US President Donald Trump's tariff programmes could set off a trade war.

The Nifty rose by 98.10 points or 0.97 per cent to end at 10,211.80, before moving in a range of 10,220.10 and 10,127.75. It saw an intra-day movement of about 92.35 points.

Sector-wise, pharma climbed by 3.14 per cent, Auto 2.19 per cent, IT 1.56 per cent, infra 1.55 per cent, FMCG 1.43 per cent, Media 1.41 per cent, realty 0.80 per cent, metal 0.77 per cent, energy 0.58 per cent, Finance

Service 0.53 per cent and Bank 0.27 percent. While PSU bank fell by 0.84 per cent.

Major index gainers were Cipla, Lupin, Kotak Bank, Adani Ports, Tata Motors, Baj Finance, Grasim, UPL and Wipro.

The losers included ICICI Bank, IOC, Axis Bank, Coal India, Hindalco, SBIN, BhartiAirtel, BPCL and GAIL.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market was in favour of gainers. On the NSE, 1,493 stocks advanced, 312 declined and 55 remained unchanged. Total securities that have hit their price bands were 339.

Turnover in the cash segment fell to Rs 26,681.61 crore from Rs 43,434.65 crore as on last Wednesday.

A total of 12,461.28 lakh shares changed hands in 1,04,45,493 trades. The market capitalisation of listed firms on NSE stood at Rs 1,42,58,035 crore.