Sensex ends 398 points higher, Nifty at 11,022; IT, banking stocks lead gains

Sensex and Nifty closed higher on Monday amid heavy buying in IT and banking stocks led by better-than-expected earnings in Q1.

Extending last week's gains, Sensex rose 398 points to 37,418 and Nifty ended 120 points higher to 11,022. On Friday, Sensex climbed 548 points at 37,020 and Nifty rose 161 points to 10,901. Domestic markets opened higher shrugging off concerns over surging domestic coronavirus cases which have crossed 1 million.

Britannia, Wipro, Infosys, Tech Mahindra and HCL Tech were among the top gainers and Sun Pharma, Cipla, Zee Entertainment, BPCL and Tata Motors were among the major losers on NSE. Sectorally, barring pharma, all other sectors closed in green territory, with IT index ending 2.6% and banking indices closing 1.5% higher.

On positive closing, Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said, "The Indian benchmark indices exhibited volatility, tracking earnings results and the SC AGR hearing. The earnings results declared so far have been positive, as the sectoral leaders, especially in the IT and Banking sector, have emerged better than expected in a quarter that was considered to be a washout, in terms of business."

Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking said,"Markets are largely focusing on the earnings and the recent announcements from the index majors have positively surprised the market, which in turn fueling the recovery. Besides, the global markets are also not showing any signs of slowing down, helping the index to maintain the prevailing momentum. However, the rising COVID-19 cases and talks of community transmission could dent the pace ahead".

Overseas, Asian markets traded mixed as investors awaited China's benchmark lending rate today. Wall Street closed mildly lower on Friday as investors reacted to weak Q1 earnings data.

European markets opened lower, as investors were cautious ahead of outcome from the EU leaders meet in Brussels, in a move to figure out a deal on proposed 750 bn euro.

On the currency front, Indian Rupee ended higher at 74.92 per dollar as against the last closing of 75.02 per dollar.

On the earnings front, ACC, SBI Cards are among the top companies that will be reporting their April-June quarterly earnings today.

Share Market Highlights: Sensex ends 398 points higher, Nifty at 11,022; Wipro, Infosys top gainers

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