Markets climb for second day in row amid buying in IT stocks & Reliance Industries

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty rallied for a second straight session on Monday following buying in index heavyweight Reliance Industries and IT stocks amid optimism in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 234 points or 0.38 per cent to settle at 61,963.68 as 19 of its components closed in green.

During the day, it jumped 314.78 points or 0.50 per cent to a high of 62,044.46.

The broader NSE Nifty rallied 111 points or 0.61 per cent to end at 18,314.40 with 34 of its constituents closing with gains and 15 closing lower while one settled unchanged.

Among the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, Sun Pharma, NTPC and Titan were the major gainers.

Nestle, Axis Bank, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel were the laggards.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.73 per cent and smallcap index gained 0.41 per cent.

Among the indices, services jumped 2.48 per cent, IT rallied 2.15 per cent, teck (1.69 per cent), commodities (1.47 per cent), utilities (1.27 per cent), healthcare (1.20 per cent) and oil & gas (0.97 per cent).

Financial Services, telecommunication and bankex were the laggards.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.03 per cent to $75.60 per barrel.

The rupee declined by 17 paise to 82.84 against US dollar amid uncertainty over US debt ceiling negotiations and dollar demand from importers.