Sensex reclaims 60k mark, Nifty near 17,750 on gains in stocks

MUMBAI: Equity benchmark Sensex climbed over 400 points to reclaim the 60,000 mark on Monday, on strong buying in financial stocks after earnings from ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries matched street expectations.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 401.04 points or 0.67 per cent to reach the 60,000-level and settled for the day at 60,056.10. During intra-day, it hit a high of 60,101.64 and a low of 59,620.11. As many as 23 stocks in the index ended in the green and seven in the red.

The broader NSE Nifty gained 119.35 points or 0.68 per cent to close at 17,743.40. A total of 24 Nifty shares gained, while 26 declined.

''After witnessing a sluggish trend over the past few sessions, fresh buying emerged ahead of the monthly F&O expiry later this week. While the markets may still be choppy and volatile, we may see select bouts of buying going ahead,'' said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

According to Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, strong results from index heavyweights led domestic indices to inch higher.

''The banking sector was the top gainer up 1 per cent, followed by the realty sector. Better than expected Q4 result from ICICI Bank over the weekend and RBI's relaxation towards the HDFC Bank merger led to a rally in the banking index,'' Khemka said.

Among the Sensex firms, Wipro, Axis Bank, Titan, UltraTech Cement and HDFC Bank, HDFC, HCL Tech and Reliance were the gainers.

Bajaj Finance, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti were among the laggards.

Among sectoral indices, bankex went up by 1.32 per cent, financial services rose by 1.21 per cent and realty by 1.05 per cent. Besides, FMCG, commodities, energy and teck were the other gainers.

On the other hand, healthcare fell by 0.47 per cent, utilities declined 0.28 per cent and auto slipped by 0.04 per cent.

Asian markets saw mixed trends. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.10 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng fell 0.78 per cent and 0.58 per cent, respectively.

European markets were lower with CAC in France sliding 0.17 per cent while London's FTSE 100 was off 0.08 per cent and Germany's DAX was lower by 0.06 per cent.

The US markets ended on a mixed note on Friday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.21 per cent to USD 81.49 per barrel.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,116.76 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Market to remain range bound with positive bias driven by results from index heavyweights. This week companies having around 18 per cent of Nifty weightage are scheduled to announce their results, Khemka said.

Investors would also keep an eye on key global events viz. Bank of Japan interest rate decision and GDP data for several important economies including the US, Eurozone, Germany, France, and Italy that would announce their Q1 GDP data during the week and would provide an indication on global economic health.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 15 paise to close at 81.91 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday.