Stock Market: Sensex Gains 559 Points, Nifty Trades Near 18,000-Mark. M&M Rises Above 3 Per Cent

Stock update: M&M was the lead gainer, up 3.46 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, Tech M, Maruti, Infosys, HCL, Bharti, HUL, Reliance, and others on the Sensex platform

Sensex and Nifty, the two key equity benchmarks, on Monday opened in the green tracking strong global cues and robust foreign flows. The two domestic indices surged higher. Sensex jumped over 600 points, while Nifty was almost hitting 18,000 points.

At 10.15 am, the BSE Sensex was trading at 60,518, up 559 points, while the broader NSE Nifty was up 155 points to 17,942.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, M&M was the lead gainer, up 3.46 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma, Tech M, Maruti, Infosys, HCL, Bharti, HUL, Reliance, and others. On the flip side, only three companies were in the negative zone – NTPC, Dr Reddy, and Tata Steel.

The overall sentiment of the 30-share Sensex pack was positive as 27 scrips were advancing, while three were declining.

In the broader market, Nifty MidCap 100 and Nifty SmallCap 100 also surged up to 0.6 per cent.

All sectors started trade on a positive note, with Nifty IT and Nifty Pharma indices at the fore-front as they rose up to 1 per cent.

"Technically the market is poised to continue the ongoing rally aided by support from the mother market US... The fact that FPIs have turned buyers during the last 2 days is another positive," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong traded higher, while Shanghai quoted lower. Wall Street had ended significantly higher on Friday.

In the previous session, the BSE benchmark climbed 203 points (0.34 per cent) to settle at 59,959, while the Nifty advanced 49 points (0.28 per cent) to end at 17,786.80.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.52 per cent lower at USD 95.27 per barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were buyers on Friday as they bought shares worth Rs 1,568.75 crore, as per exchange data.

Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated 15 paise to 82.32 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday tracking easing crude oil prices and a positive trend in domestic equities.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.35 against the dollar, then gained ground to quote at 82.32, registering a rise of 15 paise over its previous close. In the previous session on Friday, the rupee declined by 14 paise to close at 82.47 against the dollar.