Stock markets rally for 5th day; Sensex jumps 855 pts on buying in banking, IT shares

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty surged more than 1 per cent on Monday, registering their fifth day of rally on the back of buying in banking and IT shares after encouraging quarterly earnings and foreign fund inflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 855.30 points or 1.09 per cent to settle above the 79,000 mark at 79,408.50. During the day, it surged 1,081.85 points or 1.37 per cent to 79,635.05.

The NSE Nifty climbed 273.90 points or 1.15 per cent to close at 24,125.55.

From the Sensex firms, Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Tech, State Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infosys and Reliance Industries were the biggest gainers.

Adani Ports, Hindustan Unilever, ITC, Asian Paints and Nestle were among the laggards.

HDFC Bank shares climbed over 1 per cent after the leading private lender reported a 7 per cent growth in its consolidated net profit for the March quarter to Rs 18,835 crore.

Infosys shares rallied over 2 per cent after the company's March quarter net profit rose by 3.3 per cent sequentially.

Reliance Industries shares surged nearly 2 per cent which also boosted the rally in benchmark indices.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 4,667.94 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, South Korea's Kospi index and Shanghai SSE Composite settled in the positive territory while Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended lower. Markets were closed in Hong Kong.

US markets ended mostly lower on Thursday. Equity markets in the US were closed for 'Good Friday'.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 2.71 per cent to USD 66.25 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark Sensex jumped 1,508.91 points or 1.96 per cent to settle at 78,553.20 on Thursday. The Nifty surged 414.45 points or 1.77 per cent to 23,851.65.

Stock markets were closed on Friday for 'Good Friday'.