Stock Market: Sensex Surges 595 Points; Nifty Tops 19,400 On Robust Cues. PSU Banks Drag

Stock update: On the 30-share Sensex platform, L&T, Axis Bank, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv were the lead gainers. SBI, HUL, Tata Motors, Titan were the only losers

The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Monday witnessed a rally following positive global cues. The domestic indices closed higher as the S&P BSE Sensex gained 595 points to 64,959. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty50 settled at 19,412, up 181 points.

On the 30-share Sensex platform, L&T, Axis Bank, PowerGrid, Bajaj Finance, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv were the lead gainers. On the downside, SBI, HUL, Tata Motors, Titan were the only losers.

In the broader markets, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices rose 1 per cent each.

Sectorwise, except PSU Bank (down 1 per cent), all other sectoral indices closed in the green, with pharma, capital goods, metal, oil & gas, power and realty advanced 1 per cent each.

In the previous session on Friday, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 283 points to close at 64,364, while the NSE Nifty50 shut shop at 19,231, up 97 points.

"Optimism continued as soft US payroll data and expectations of moderation in monetary tightening by the Fed supported the sentiment. Since most of the headwinds are global in nature, investor sentiment has shifted to domestic-oriented businesses, where festive demand is healthy," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong settled in the green. European markets were trading lower. The US markets ended in positive territory on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 1.35 per cent to $86.04 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 12.43 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, Indian rupee pared its initial gains and settled for the day 2 paise lower at 83.22 (provisional) against the US dollar as the support from positive domestic equities was negated by rising crude oil prices. Forex traders said a positive trend in domestic equities supported the local unit at lower levels and restricted the downside.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.17 and touched a low level of 83.24 against the greenback. It finally settled at 83.22 (provisional) against the dollar, registering a loss of 2 paise from its previous close. On Friday, the rupee settled at 83.20 against the US dollar.