Market rally gets a monsoon fillip, Sensex hits 8-month high

Mumbai: Stocks ruled higher for the sixth session as the Sensex added nearly 134 points to end at 27,279 -- a fresh over 8-month high -- as monsoon picked up and the global recovery post-Brexit spread cheer.

Rainfall deficit shrank to 6 percent, sharply down from 18 percent in the first week of June, after substantial rains over the weekend.

Mood was also decidedly upbeat after it emerged that central bankers across the globe are stepping up stimulus measures to offset concerns from the shock Brexit referendum, which sent global stocks higher.

Market remained in the green territory throughout. The 30-share Sensex ended higher by 133.85 points, or 0.49 percent, at 27,278.76 -- its highest closing since October 26 last year. As many as 19 stocks gained.

It had added 747.20 points in the past five sessions.

The NSE Nifty ended up 42.35 points, or 0.51 percent, at 8,370.70 -- its highest level since August 20 last year.

Widespread gains built up mood, with realty, PSU, metal, oil & gas and capital goods stocks emerging as heavy-hitters.

Investors went for the kill buoyed by optimism over increased chances of GST becoming a reality with changed equations in the Rajya Sabha, the government's approval to the 7th Pay panel award and a clutch of economy-boosting reforms, including relaxation of FDI rules.

The rupee firmed up against the US dollar, which also came as a positive trigger.

Meanwhile, global brokerage firm HSBC today upgraded India to the 'overweight' status, citing improving domestic indicators and more realistic earnings expectations, which gave a further thrust. It has also raised its Sensex target for 2016-end to 28,500 from 26,000.

Adani Ports came out on top adding 4.23 percent after the company's board on Saturday approved plans to explore acquisition of business support services provider TM Harbour Services.

Tata Motors too was in the limelight by rising 2.40 percent after the company reported an 8 percent growth in June sales.

Others that had a good day in office included ONGC (3.43 percent), ICICI Bank (2.97 percent), Coal India (2.37 percent), L&T (1.59 percent), SBI (1.46 percent) and RIL (1.34 percent).

ITC, Dr Reddy's, Hindustan Unilever, Bajaj Auto, NTPC, Asian Paints, TCS and HDFC Bank lost due to profit-booking.

The BSE realty index jumped the most, up 2.20 percent, followed by PSU 1.79 percent, metal 1.67 percent, oil & gas 1.56 percent and capital goods 1.26 percent.

Broader markets too remained strong, with the small-cap index advancing 1.01 percent and mid-cap 0.58 percent.

Foreign investors net sold shares worth Rs 187.51 crore last Friday, showed provisional data.

In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.27 percent higher and Shanghai Composite rose 1.91 percent while Japan's Nikkie climbed 0.60 percent.

Europe too was in the green in early trade. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index gained almost 0.4 percent while Frankfurt's DAX rose 0.20 percent. Paris CAC rose 0.3 percent.

"Both the Sensex and the Nifty continue to scale new highs for the year, closing with gains of ~0.5% for the day. Positive market sentiment was given a fillip after monsoon picked up in India over the weekend," said Shreyash Devalkar, Fund Manager - Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

The market breadth remained positive as 1,724 stocks ended in the green, 1,016 closed in the red and 145 stayed flat.

Total turnover fell to approximately Rs 3,010 crore, from Rs 3,336.56 crore last Friday.