New Delhi, India (BBN)-The BSE benchmark Sensex jumped over 350 points in trades on Monday on the back of buying in oil & gas, consumer durables, pharma and FMCG stocks.
The 50-share Nifty jumped above its crucial psychological level of 8,350 led by gains in blue-chip counters such as HDFC, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries and ITC, reports NDTV.
For the most part of the day, the Sensex and Nifty traded on a firm note and added on to the gains made during the morning deals.
T S Harihar, chief executive and founder of HRBV Client Solutions Private Ltd told NDTV that from a short term perspective, the Nifty is likely to trade in a range of 8,000-8,350. However, he says that Nifty may not give a great upside beyond 8,440-8,450 levels.
Going ahead earnings of companies like SBI, Tata Steel and Bajaj Auto will likely to pave the way forward for the Nifty.
Meanwhile, buying was visible across the sectors. Oil & gas, consumer durables, pharma, capital goods, power and FMCG stocks were in high demand in trades today.
Oil & gas index on the Bombay Stock Exchange surged over 2 per cent. Shares of oil marketing companies such as Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan petroleum and Indian Oil jumped 2.6-3.3 per cent after the petrol and diesel prices were hiked on Friday.
GAIL India, Reliance industries, Cairn India, Petronet LNG, Oil India, ONGC and Castrol also gained over 1 per cent each.
From the Nifty-50 basket of stocks, 45 stocks advanced while 5 stocks declined.
Dr Reddy's Labs, Zee Entertainment, UltraTech Cement, Tata Power, Lupin, ACC, HDFC, ITC, HDFC Bank and Infosys also closed higher by over 1 per cent each.
On the other hand, Asian Paints was the top Nifty loser. The stock fell 3 per cent to close at Rs 766 after the company posted its fourth quarter numbers which came below the Street estimates.
Tech Mahindra, Hero MotoCorp and Coal India were also among the laggards.
The overall breadth on the BSE was positive as 1,673 stocks advanced while 1,049 stocks declined.
The Sensex finally ended 363 points higher at 27,687 and the Nifty gained 111 points to close at 8,374.