Indian shares gain on the final day of F&O expiry

Indian shares ended higher on the final day of August derivatives contract expiry, led by gains in energy stocks such as Reliance Industries and Bharat Petroleum.

india trader
Reuters

Indian shares ended higher on the final day of August derivatives contract expiry, led by gains in energy stocks such as Reliance Industries and Bharat Petroleum.

The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.27 percent at 31,730 while the broader NSE Nifty gained 0.34 percent at 9,917.

Trading was volatile as investors rolled over their positions to September derivatives series.

Among the top index gainers: Wipro gained 2.2 percent, Reliance Industries added 2 percent, Maruti Suzuki rose 1.7 percent while Asian Paints advanced 1.6 percent.

S&P BSE Energy index rose 1 percent, amongst the top sectoral gainers.

Schaeffler India jumped 16 percent after the company announced merger of its two arms to improve cost and supply-side efficiencies.

Majestic Auto surged 20 percent after the company said its board would meet on Thursday to consider sale of assets not exceeding to Rs 300 crore.

Among the laggards, Fortis Healthcare dropped 5.2 percent after Supreme Court reaffirmed status quo order against Singh brothers in Fortis share sale case.

Biocon declined 2 percent after the company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will take 3 months more to review the application for a biosimilar version of Roche Holding AG's breast cancer drug.

Market breadth was in the favour of losers, with about 2 stocks declining to every 1 stock that advanced.

Meanwhile Asian shares edged higher following upbeat Chinese and U.S. economic news.

A survey showed growth in Chinese manufacturing sector unexpectedly accelerated in August, confounding forecasts for a slight slowdown, Reuters reported.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.2 percent.

Wall Street got a boost on Wednesday when data showed the U.S. economy grew at an upwardly revised 3 percent annualized pace in the second quarter.

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