The Sensex and Nifty ended higher, driven by strong performances by ICICI Bank and Tata Motors, as investors gear up for a crucial week of quarterly results.

The broader NSE index closed up 15.9 points or 0.18 per cent at 8708.95.

The benchmark BSE index ended 101.90 points or 0.36 per cent higher at 28,179.08, after touching an over two-week high earlier in the session.

Among BSE sectoral indices, oil & gas index gained the most by 1.67 per cent, PSU 1.54 per cent, auto 0.84 per cent and banking 0.6 per cent. On the other hand, IT index was down 0.96 per cent, TECk 0.94 per cent, capital goods 0.67 per cent and consumer durables 0.33 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were ONGC (+4.61%), Tata Motors (+2.67%), ICICI Bank (+2.47%), Coal India (+2.46%) and Lupin (+2.05%), while the major losers were Wipro (-3.09%), Asian Paints (-2.25%), L&T (-1.06%), Axis Bank (-1.01%) and Bharti Airtel (-0.94%).

Oil and Natural Gas Corp was the biggest percentage gainer on the indexes.

“I expect the market to be range-bound between 8,300-8,900 points,” said R.K. Gupta, managing director of Taurus Asset Management.

“It could be difficult to break the resistance at 8,900 as results of IT companies and Reliance Industries has shown that earnings this quarter may be sluggish.”

European shares rose on Monday, buoyed by Zodiac Aerospace and by media firms, which benefited from readacross from merger moves in the United States.

Asian stocks drifted without clear direction on Monday after Wall Street’s sluggish performance late last week, while the dollar hovered near nine-month high as fresh comments from a Federal Reserve official boosted bets of a rate hike by year-end.

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