Sensex ends above 60,000 mark; Nifty crosses 17,900; Titan, Axis Bank, TechM top gainers

Sensex closed above the 60,000 level on Monday, led by gains in banking, IT and energy stocks amid positive global equities. This is the third consecutive session in which the Indian market has ended in the green. Sensex gained 321.99 pts to a three-week high of 60,115.13. Of 30 Sensex stocks, 21 constituents closed in the green. After opening in the green, the index touched a day's high of 60,284.55 and a low of 59,912.29. Nifty climbed 103 points or 0.58 per cent to end at 17,936.35, with 36 of its constituents ending in the green.

Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services  said, "While Sensex has managed to cross 60k mark, Nifty is just at knocking distance from the key 18k levels. Sector rotation was visible in the market with interest seen in underperforming sectors like IT and metals. Specialty Chemicals were also in focus on news of rising global prices on back of supply constraints from Europe and China. We expect market to remain firm with Nifty likely to head towards 18,000-18,200 zones."

Share Market Highlights: Sensex, Nifty extend gains for third day as IT, consumer durables surge

Foreign fund buying, crude oil prices trading near $93 level, and macro data indicating strong growth recovery helped the indices end in the green.

Titan rose the most 2.39 per cent on Sensex, followed by Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra and Tata Steel. Gains in RIL, Infosys, TCS, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and L&T also helped the rally. HDFC twins and Nestle were the top Sensex losers, falling up to 0.43 per cent.

Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities said, "Nifty seems to be facing resistance at the previous high of 17,992 (its intra day high was 17,980.6). Broader market continues to do well, while the largecaps are seeing rotational buying and profit taking; thus leading the Nifty to a slow crawl up. Nifty could continue to face resistance at 17,992 while 17,807 could act as a support in the near term."

Previous session

Benchmark indices ended higher on Friday amid foreign fund inflows and positive global cues. Sensex climbed 104.92 points to end at 59,793.14 and Nifty ended 34.60 points higher at 17,833.35. Tech Mahindra, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, HCL Technologies, Maruti, Tata Consultancy Services, State Bank of India, Wipro and Axis Bank were the top Sensex gainers, rising up to 3.32 per cent. UltraTech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra, Larsen & Toubro and Bajaj Finance were among the top losers, falling up to 1.94 per cent.

Global markets
Among global markets, shares climbed in Europe and Asia after last week's strong close on Wall Street snapped a three-week losing streak. Many Asian markets were closed for holidays. The US futures rose while oil prices turned higher.

While Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 1.2 per cent, markets in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were closed for holidays. Brent crude oil advanced 28 cents to $93.12 a barrel. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,132.42 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.