Indian Shares Recover From Day's Lows

(RTTNews) - Indian shares recovered from an early slide to end on a flat note Monday ahead of the release of delayed U.S. jobs and inflation data as well as a slew of central bank decisions due this week.

Domestic markets opened the week on a cautious footing but recouped losses to end largely unchanged, drawing support from a weaker dollar in international markets and positive cues from Europe.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex ended down by 54.30 points at 85,213.36, snapping a two-day rally. The broader NSE Nifty index slid 19.65 points to close at 26,027.30.

The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indexes rose 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent respectively, outperforming their larger peers.

The market breadth was strong on the BSE, with 2,243 shares rising while 2,023 shares declined and 178 shares closed unchanged.

Mahindra & Mahindra led losses to close nearly 2 percent lower while Bajaj FinServ, Adani Ports and Maruti Suzuki India all fell around 1 percent.

Among the top gainers, Infosys, Tata Steel, Asian Paints, HCL Technologies, Trent and Hindustan Unilever rose between half a percent and 1.4 percent.

Globally, Asian markets ended broadly lower as investors fretted over tech valuations and digested disappointing economic data from China.

European stocks traded higher in early deals ahead of interest-rate decisions from a slew of central banks, including ECB, BOJ, BOE, Riksbank and Norges Bank.

Gold soared nearly 1 percent to a seven-week high amid the prospect of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve next year.

Oil ticked higher as a weaker dollar and Venezuelan supply disruptions outweighed concerns over a massive oversupply in the new year.