Sensex rallies 342 pts, Nifty tops 10,800; IT, bank stocks soar

The BSE Sensex zoomed 342 points and the NSE Nifty reclaimed the 10,800 mark on Monday, driven by IT and financial stocks, amid heavy foreign and domestic fund inflows.

Mumbai: The 30-share index ended 341.90 points, or 0.95 per cent, at 36,213.38; while the broader Nifty soared 88.45 points, or 0.82 per cent, to conclude the session at 10,880.10 after shuttling between 10,887.10 and 10,788.05.

The Sensex had shed 27 points in Friday's trade. Covering up of short positions by speculators ahead of February derivatives expiry on Thursday also added to the momentum, brokers said.

Besides, other Asian markets scaling a five-month high and a higher opening of european shares after US President Donald Trump announced extension of the March 1 deadline for increasing tariff on import of Chinese products, as talks between the two sides were making "substantial progress", too boosted investor sentiment here.

Sentiments also got a lift after the GST Council at its meeting on Sunday slashed tax rates on under-construction housing properties to 5 per cent without input tax credit, from the existing 12 per cent, brokers said.

Top gainers in the Sensex pack include Yes Bank, TCS, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, HDFC, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank, Vedanta, Hero MotoCorp, ITC, Bajaj Finance, M&M and Tata Steel, surging up to 3.24 per cent.

On the other hand, Coal India, SBI, Kotak Bank, Asian Paints, L&T, ONGC, PowerGrid and RIL fell up to 0.37 per cent.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 6,311.01 crore, while DIIs made purchases of Rs 838.88 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.

(Inputs from PTI)