Indian shares end higher helped by autos, consumer stocks

By Bharath Rajeswaran and Hritam Mukherjee

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Indian shares ended with meagre gains on Monday helped by auto and consumer stocks, while some small- and mid-cap stocks fell after a report said that the country's markets regulator was investigating allegations of "front-running" at a domestic mutual fund.

The NSE Nifty 50 inched up 0.16% at 23,537.85, while the S&P BSE Sensex settled 0.17% higher at 77,341.08.

The Nifty 50 index has traded in a 450 point range in the past ten sessions in the absence of any major domestic triggers, analysts said.

Auto stocks advanced 0.87% in the session, helped by two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp's 1.33% rise after a price hike announcement. Consumer stocks gained 0.72%, helped by hopes of a rebound in mass, rural consumption and a normal monsoon.

"The market is expecting that measures will be announced in the budget to boost overall consumption. That, coupled with a good monsoon could push companies linked to rural consumption higher," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president, research of retail equities at SMC Global Securities.

Over the weekend, local news website Money Control reported that the markets regulator was probing Quant Mutual Fund over allegations of front running - or dealing on price-sensitive information - before its general release.

Quant, one of the fastest-growing fund houses in the country and an active investor in small- and mid-cap stocks, said it is responding to the regulator's queries.

Fifteen out of top 20 holdings of Quant's small-cap holdings fell between 0.5%-4.5%. The small-caps closed 0.1% lower, having fallen over 1% early in the session.

Meanwhile, drugmaker Sun Pharma rose about 2% after its obesity drug showed positive study results. It was among the top percentage gainers on the benchmark Nifty.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sonia Cheema)