Sensex, Nifty climb nearly 1 pc; RIL, ICICI Bank lead charge

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark Sensex rallied nearly 1 percent to re-visit the 59,000-mark on Monday, tracking heavy buying in index heavyweights Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. The BSE benchmark rose 442.65 points or 0.75 percent to settle at 59,245.98. During the day, it jumped 504.92 points or 0.85 percent to 59,308.25.

The NSE Nifty advanced 126.35 points or 0.72 percent to 17,665.80.

From the Sensex pack, Sun Pharma, ITC, NTPC, Reliance Industries, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, HCL Technologies, and ICICI Bank were among the major gainers.

In contrast, Nestle, UltraTech Cement, Wipro, PowerGrid, Asian Paints, and Hindustan Unilever were the laggards.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Seoul, Tokyo, and Hong Kong ended lower, while Shanghai settled in the green.

Equities in Europe were trading lower during the mid-session deals. The US markets had ended lower on Friday.

''Benchmark indices outperformed their Asian peers and also shrugged off the weak European market sentiment as investors bet on metals, banking, and capital goods stocks. Cautious optimism prevailed as there are enough indications that markets may remain volatile in coming sessions on global slowdown fears,'' said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd. Meanwhile, the international oil benchmark Brent crude jumped 2.81 percent to USD 95.63 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 8.79 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.