A positive update about an above-normal monsoon this year, which is seen to rub off on the overall consumer demand, brightened economic prospects.
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The benchmark BSE Sensex closed up 72 points or 0.27 percent at 26,725.60 after climbing over 5 percent to log its biggest weekly gain in almost three months last week.
However, traders say the current rally could be speculative as foreign investors have been buying very little in cash and that most of their buying has been in index futures and options. Shanghai Composite was trading 0.19 percent higher.
Last week, the Sensex rallied 1,352 points, or 5.31 per cent, and Nifty zoomed 407 points, or 5.25 per cent – their biggest weekly gain since March on the back of earnings show and continued foreign inflows.
Also, the NSE Nifty was trading higher by 38.20 points, or 0.46%, at 8,194.85.
Major Sensex gainers during Monday’s trade were Tata Motors, up 4.23 percent at Rs.420.55; Coal India, up 3.80 percent at Rs.292.05; Hero MotoCorp, up 3.02 percent at Rs.3,093.90; Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), up 2.46 percent at Rs.2,635.35; and NTPC, up 2.29 percent at Rs.143.10. The coal behemoth yesterday announced almost 6.3 per cent increase in dry fuel prices and posted a marginal rise in net profit for the fourth quarter.
Hindalco ended 12 percent higher.
The power equipment-maker received orders worth Rs 15,650 crore in the fourth quarter taking its total outstanding order book to Rs 1.1 lakh crore as of March 31, 2016.
Coal India shares were the best performer on Sensex and added over 3 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after the company approved raising coal price to rake in additional revenue of Rs 3234 crore.
In sync with the overall trend, the broader markets too continued to display a firm trend, with the small-cap index rising 0.42 per cent while mid-cap rose 0.35 per cent.
The S&P BSE automobile index surged by 207.07 points, followed by the metal index, which rose by 175.56 points; and the IT index gained by 153.30 points.
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The broader markets, too, gained during the intra-day trade.
