Stock markets rally for sixth day: Sensex rises 388 pts, Nifty closes above 26,000 level

Mumbai: Stock markets rose for the sixth straight session on Monday, with the benchmark Sensex climbing 388 points and Nifty closing above the 26,000 mark following an across-the-board rally and strong quarterly performance by corporates.

Rising for the sixth consecutive day, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 388.17 points, or 0.46 per cent, to close at 84,950.95. The broader NSE Nifty rose by 103.40 points, or 0.40 per cent, to settle at 26,013.45.

From the Sensex pack, Eternal, Maruti Suzuki India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Titan, HDFC Bank, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finserv, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finance and Larsen & Toubro were among the gainers.

On the other hand, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, Asian Paints, UltraTech Cement, Bharat Electronics Ltd, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries were the only laggards.

The BSE Midcap gauge rose 0.66 per cent, and smallcap went up 0.59 per cent.

All the sectoral indices ended in green. Auto rose by 0.86 per cent, Power by 0.83 per cent, Bankex by 0.77 per cent, Financial Services by 0.78 per cent, Consumer Discretionary by 0.70 per cent, Capital Goods by 0.60 per cent, Industrials by 0.59 per cent, Healthcare by 0.57 per cent, and Utilities by 0.54 per cent.

A total of 2,211 stocks declined while 2,082 advanced and 204 remained unchanged on the BSE.

Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, dipped by 0.70 per cent to $63.94 per barrel.

Meanwhile, FIIs remained net sellers for the fifth day in a row and offloaded equities worth Rs 4,968.22 crore on Friday. However, domestic institutional investors sustained their buying spree and picked up stocks worth Rs 8,461.47 crore, according to exchange data.