Key equity indices bounced back and hit fresh intraday high in mid-morning trade. At 11:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 124.46 points or 0.36% at 34,501.45. The Nifty 50 index was up 46 points or 0.45% at 10,362.45. Gains were backed by firmness in private sector banks.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.64%. The BSE Small-Cap index was down 0.53%. Both these indices underperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 948 shares rose and 1297 shares fell. A total of 125 shares were unchanged.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was down 0.21%. The power transmission & distribution business of L&T Construction has received EPC orders worth Rs 1,881 crore. The announcement was made during trading hours today, 8 October 2018.

Eicher Motors was up 2.35%. VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) today announced plans to set up a new greenfield truck manufacturing plant at Bhopal. The Madhya Pradesh Government has allotted land for the new plant and work to set up this plant is expected to start soon. The target is to go on stream with this plant in the next 18 months at an investment of around Rs 400 crore and an initial capacity of 40,000 trucks; in addition to the capacity of 90,000 trucks at Pithampur, near Indore.

With a strong foundation built on mutual trust, respect and win‐win approach, the joint venture has grown from strength to strength over the years to put VECV in a very good position with a yearly average growth of over 18% in last ten years with turnover of Rs 10200 crore in 2017‐2018. The entire board of directors of AB Volvo is present on the occasion to celebrate the highly successful joint venture in India.

Most private sector banks rose. RBL Bank (up 2.69%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 1.53%), ICICI Bank (up 1.29%), Federal Bank (up 1.10%) and City Union Bank (up 0.28%), edged higher. IndusInd Bank (down 0.03%), HDFC Bank (down 0.15%) and Axis Bank (down 0.73%), edged lower.

Yes Bank was up 4.66%. The bank said it finalised search and selection committee to find a new CEO. The board inducted TS Vijayan, former chairman of IRDAI and LIC, and OP Bhatt, former CMD of State Bank of India, as external experts in the committee. The internal members include Brahm Dutt, Mukesh Sabarwal and Subhas Chander Kalia. The bank has invited proposals from global leadership advisory firms specialising in banking, financial services and insurance. The first meeting of the committee will be on 11 October 2018. The announcement was made after market hours on Friday, 5 October 2018.

Most public sector banks declined. United Bank of India (down 5.04%), Central Bank of India (down 4.92%), Corporation Bank (down 3.43%), Vijaya Bank (down 1.59%), Bank of Maharashtra (down 1.34%), Syndicate Bank (down 1.28%), Canara Bank (down 0.91%), Punjab & Sind Bank (down 0.75%), Allahabad Bank (down 0.71%), Andhra Bank (down 0.56%), Bank of India (down 0.52%) and Union Bank of India (down 0.38%), edged lower. Dena Bank (up 0.33%), Punjab National Bank (up 0.63%), Bank of Baroda (up 0.71%), Indian Bank (up 0.76%), UCO Bank (up 0.9%), State Bank of India (up 1.92%) and IDBI Bank (up 2.62%), edged higher.

On the political front, the Election Commission (EC) on Saturday announced the dates for the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram Assembly polls. While Chhattisgarh will go to the polls in two phases on November 12 and 20, the Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram Assembly elections will be held on November 28. Polling in Rajasthan and Telangana will be held on December 7. Counting of votes will be held across all the five states on December 11.

Overseas, Asian markets slipped further on Monday. Japan's markets are closed for a public holiday. China's markets tumbled following a week-long holiday and after its central bank cut banks' reserve requirements in a bid to support growth.

US stocks closed sharply lower Friday as worries about rising interest rates overshadowed the September jobs report, which pointed to strength in the labor market and the broader economy.

On the US data front, the September jobs report showed 134,000 jobs added in the month. The report showed the unemployment rate dropping to 3.7%. In addition, average hourly wage paid to American workers rose 0.3% an hour, while the 12-month rate of hourly wage gains came in at 2.8%. The wage data were of particular interest because of what it can communicate about inflation in the US economy.