With sentiments buoyed by a rally in global markets and buying across sectors, Indian stocks snapped a 3-day losing streak propelling the benchmark Nifty50 index to end 1.4 per cent higher on Monday. The index gained 241.75 points to close the day’s trading at 18,101.20 level, after opening with a gap up at 17,952.55 points.

The BSE Sensex zoomed 846.94 points or 1.41 per cent to settle at 60,747.31. The BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.93 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.

Traders said that buying was witnessed across sectors, except in the stocks of consumer durables companies. Information technology, metals, public sector banks and auto stocks were the top gainers. All sectoral indices ended in the positive territory.

M&M leads gainers pack

The top three gainers were Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, SBI Life Insurance and IndusInd Bank.

Infosys Ltd, ICICI Bank and Reliance Industries were the most actively traded stocks.

According to technical experts the market was in the oversold zone and what was seen today was a pullback rally, that was aided by the upbeat sentiments in the global markets. Technical charts show support for the Nifty in the range of 17,900 to 17,800, indicating a short term upmove in the market to levels of 18,330 and 18,460 points.

Investor sentiments turned optimistic with China and Hong Kong lifting all Covid-related restrictions along their borders. There are also expectations that the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech on Tuesday may reveal a less hawkish stance.

Key triggers

Going forward, investors will be keeping an eye on developments in Europe and the Consumer Price Inflation data to be released by India later this week.

IT bell weather Tata Consultancy Services, which kicked off the earnings season, reported net profit that came in lower-than-expected at ₹10,846 crore, mostly flat from quarter ago. The stock gained 3 per cent on Monday but is likely to be under pressure on Tuesday, said analyst.

Stock markets are seen trading in a broad range during the week with banks, autos and metals showing some momentum, analysts further said.