Sensex Rallies 651 Points; Nifty Reclaims 18,000; UPL, Hero MotoCorp, Titan Among Top Gainers

New Delhi: The Indian equity benchmarks continued to surge on Monday amid across-the-board buying, with banking and auto stocks in high demand. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 651 points or 1.09 per cent to close at 60,396, while the broader NSE Nifty settled 191 points or 1.07 per cent higher at 18,003.

Mid- and small-cap shares finished on a positive note as Nifty Midcap 100 index surged 0.84 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index gained 1.28 per cent.

"The Indian benchmarks traded higher due to widespread buying. In its first advance estimate, the National Statistical Office (NSO) said the Indian economy is on track to reclaim its footing, putting GDP (gross domestic product) growth at a moderate 9.2 per cent this fiscal year, despite concerns about the impact of a resurgent virus on the fragile recovery," Gaurav Garg, Head of Research, Capitalvia Global Research Ltd said.

All sector gauges -- compiled by the National Stock Exchange -- settled in green. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Bank and Nifty Auto soared as much as 3.23 per cent.

On the stock-specific front, UPL Ltd was the top Nifty gainer as the stock rallied 4.57 per cent to Rs 825. Hero MotoCorp, Titan, SBI and Maruti were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Wipro, Nestle India, Divi's Lab, Asian Paints and PowerGrid were among the laggards.

The overall market breadth stood positive as 2,646 shares advanced while 992 declined on BSE.

On the 30-share BSE platform, Titan, Maruti, SBI, L&T, HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and ITC attracted the most gains with their shares rising as much as 3.12 per cent. Wipro, Nestle India, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Hindustan Unilever and Dr Reddy's were among the losers.

In contrast to domestic indices, global stock markets struggled as U.S. Treasury yields reached a new two-year high and investors fretted about the prospect of rising interest rates and a surge in Covid-19 infections.