Nifty, Sensex end higher as RBI eases MF liquidity concerns

Indian shares ended below the session’s high on Monday as gains in financial stocks from the central bank’s move to offer liquidity support to mutual funds were cut down by concerns over a possible extension of the world’s biggest lockdown.

The NSE Nifty 50 index .NSEI closed 1.4{b1ee4ac4d8d7b8e1af61a560a11ca52574b8103b547ccac8037ce0cdf9e7ba58} higher at 9,282.3, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex .BSESN gained 1.33{b1ee4ac4d8d7b8e1af61a560a11ca52574b8103b547ccac8037ce0cdf9e7ba58} to end at 31,743.08.

Both indexes rose nearly 2.5{b1ee4ac4d8d7b8e1af61a560a11ca52574b8103b547ccac8037ce0cdf9e7ba58} earlier, after the Reserve Bank of India launched a special liquidity facility for mutual funds to ease the redemption pressure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The move comes days after a prominent fund house said it would wind down six credit funds due to a lack of liquidity.

However, the gains were trimmed towards the session’s close after a regional chief minister said most states were in favour of extending the lockdown with some relaxations after a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

V Narayanasamy, chief minister of the southern state of Puducherry, also said Modi did not respond to states’ demand for a package to combat the economic fallout from the crisis.