The BSE Sensex rose 169 points or 0.2% to 81,284 on Monday morning, snapping a two-session losing streak as some traders engaged in bargain hunting after the benchmark index touched a five-week low last week. A modest rise in U.S. futures also lifted sentiment, following Friday’s sharp sell-off on Wall Street amid escalating Middle East tensions and global economic concerns.
However, further gains were limited by rising further in crude oil prices, which posed a risk to India’s import-heavy economy. In China, India’s top trading partner, May’s activity data was mixed: retail sales posted strong growth and the jobless rate eased, but industrial output slowed. Early gainers on the Sensex included Oil and Natural Gas (0.8%), Bharti Airtel (0.7%), and Larsen & Toubro (0.6%). Investors now await India’s wholesale inflation figures for May, due later today, after April’s print eased to a 13-month low of 0.85%. They also anticipated an interest rate decision from the U.S. Fed later this week
