Stock markets snap two-day falling streak; IT, oil shares advance

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty snapped the two-day falling streak on Monday, helped by gains in IT, oil and gas and telecom shares amid optimism in the global markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 99.08 points or 0.16 per cent to settle at 62,724.71. During the day, it gained 179.26 points or 0.28 per cent to 62,804.89.

The NSE Nifty advanced 38.10 points or 0.21 per cent to end at 18,601.50.

From the Sensex pack, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Infosys, NTPC, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Nestle, Tech Mahindra and Bajaj Finance were the major gainers.

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Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti, Titan, HDFC Bank, Wipro, HDFC and ITC were among the laggards.

In Asian markets, Tokyo and Hong Kong ended in the green, while Seoul and Shanghai settled lower. Equity markets in Europe were trading in positive territory. The US markets ended in positive territory on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 2.54 per cent to $ 72.91 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 308.97 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

"The domestic indices are moving with caution as investors step up to a data-loaded week both in the domestic and global markets. However, the expectations are optimistic, like the Indian CPI is forecast to moderate and the Fed & Bank of Japan (BoJ) are expected to maintain their policy rates.

"Other major events on the centre stage are domestic IIP, WPI inflation, and policy announcements from European Central Bank (ECB)," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

The 30-share BSE benchmark fell 223.01 points or 0.35 per cent to settle at 62,625.63 on Friday. The Nifty went lower by 71.15 points or 0.38 per cent to end at 18,563.40.