Indian benchmark equity indices clocked significant gains on Monday as an overall rally in the global markets on the back of strong data from the U.S. lifted sentiments.
The 30-share Sensex rose 601.80 points or 1.83% to close at 33,917.94. Barring Coal India, all stocks in the Sensex pack gained ground with ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, NTPC, ITC and Axis Bank all gaining between 2-4% each.
The broader market breadth was, however, reminiscent of the bearish sentiments of investors in the recent past. On BSE, 1,370 stocks lost ground as against 1,346 gainers on Monday.
The benchmark indices have lost ground in seven of the last nine trading sessions. On Monday, the broader Nifty of the NSE settled at 10,421.40, rising 194.55 points or 1.9%.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hang Seng gained almost 600 points while Nikkei rose more than 350 points. Global markets staged a recovery after data from the U.S. showed that the country added 3.13 lakh jobs in February.
It led to the Nasdaq closing at a new high on Friday and Dow Jones gaining more than 400 points.
Domestic data
Government data showed that industrial activity rose 7.5% in January.
“The sharp improvement in IIP is a positive trigger for Q4 GDP which will be announced on the last day of May and a good performance in March will take the overall GDP growth to above 6.7%,” said Jaikishan Parmar of Angel Broking.
