Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 350 points in early trade on Monday, tracking gains in index majors HDFC twins, ICICI Bank and Kotak Bank amid largely positive cues from global markets.

At 1.45 pm, the Sensex was trading higher by 362.49 points at 49,568.96 The 30-share BSE index touched a high of 49,591.60 during intraday.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty surged 130.70 points or 0.88 per cent to 14,953.90.

Nifty may kiss 15000 again

Major gainers

Dr Reddy’s was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by ONGC, HDFC, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma and Kotak Bank.

On the other hand, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Nestle India and Infosys were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex climbed 256.71 points or 0.52 per cent to finish at 49,206.47, and Nifty rose 98.35 points or 0.67 per cent to 14,823.15.

Nifty needs clear move beyond 15K to strengthen bullish momentum

FIIs turn sellers

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth ₹1,142.75 crore on Friday, according to provisional exchange data.

"Domestic equities look good at the moment. Favourable global cues, steady March quarter earnings along with favourable commentary, liquidity support announced by the RBI and absence of nationwide lockdown have aided domestic equities to shrug off rising Covid-19 cases in the country," said Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities.

However, elevated daily caseload, higher positivity rate and rising Covid-19 cases in hinterlands of the country are expected to weigh on investors' sentiments and will prevent the market from taking any decisive upmove, he added.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul were trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong was in the red.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.44 per cent higher at $68.58 per barrel.

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