Indian shares posted their highest close on Monday, tracking a rally in global markets, although trading was disrupted at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) for most of the session after technical issues prevented dealers from seeing updated stock quotations.
Though trading on the NSE resumed at 12:30 pm India time (0700 GMT), traders widely continued to report issues with updates in individual stock prices that persisted until a little after 02:00 pm local time. Most traders switched trading to exchanges run by BSE Ltd, which are smaller compared with the National Stock Exchange. They expressed widespread discontent at the disruption and "lack of communication" from the NSE.
However, they said the glitch was unlikely to have a permanent impact on the overall market's outlook. "Unless there is a serious reason behind the snag, I don't think people will be too concerned," said Gaurav Bissa, a derivatives analyst, LKP Securities. "There will be noise for a day or two, that is it." The benchmark BSE index closed 1.13 percent higher at 31,715.64, while the broader NSE index ended up 1.09 percent at 9,771.05. Both indexes closed at all-time high.
IT stocks surged as the latest US jobs data gave investos greater confidence about the world's largest economy. The United States is the sector's largest export market. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Infosys Ltd closed up 4.42 percent and 2.3 percent respectively. Drug manufacturers, which could also benefit from an improving US economy, gained with Lupin Ltd ending 2.8 percent higher. Shares in AU Small Finance Bank Ltd surged 51.3 percent on their market debut after the lender's 19.13 billion rupee ($296.4 million) initial public offering.