Sensex, Nifty End Modestly Higher After Volatility

(RTTNews) - Indian shares ended modestly higher on Monday, after having fallen deep into the red earlier in the session due to uncertainty surrounding the general election results.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex hit an intraday low of 71,866.01 before reversing course to end the session up 111,66 points, or 0.15 percent, at 72,776.13.

The broader NSE Nifty index closed up 48.85 points, or 0.22 percent, at 22,104.05, after having fallen to a low of 21,821.05 earlier.

In an interview with NDTV, Union home minister Amit Shah cautioned against directly linking the stock market movements to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections but acknowledged that "some rumors" may have fueled the volatility.

The senior BJP leader said that the market would "shoot up" after June 4 when the results of the general elections are scheduled to be announced.

Tata Motors slumped 8.3 percent despite the company delivering strong Q4 performance. Among other prominent decliners, NTPC, Coal India, Shriram Finance and BPCL dropped 1-2 percent.

Cipla shares surged 6.1 percent after the pharmaceutical company announced a remarkable 79 percent growth in quarterly net profit.

Adani Ports, Adani Enterprises, HDFC Life and Asian Paints jumped 3-4 percent.

Cues from Asia and Europe were muted as investors awaited the release of key U.S. inflation data for April as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech due this week for additional clarity on the Fed's rate trajectory.

The dollar dipped in European trade and gold prices were down nearly 1 percent while oil edged up slightly ahead of an OPEC+ meeting on supply policy.