Sensex closes at 49,849.84, Nifty up by 232.40 points

Indian equity indices, Sensex and Nifty ended with strong gains on Monday which was led by broad-based buying across sectors. Broader markets, Nifty Smallcap100 and Nifty Midcap100 supported the rally and all the sector indices ended in green.

The Sensex gained 749.85 points, or 1.53 percent to 49,849.84, while the Nifty ended at 14,761.55, up 232.40 points, or 1.60 percent. Broader indices closed higher, with the Smallcap index outperforming the benchmarks, ending 2 percent higher.

All sectors also ended in the green for the day led by Nifty Auto, which rose 2.4 percent. Nifty Energy and Nifty Metal were also up 2 percent for the day. Meanwhile, the banking, financial services, pharma, IT, and FMCG sectors were up 1-2 percent for the day. 

Barring Bharti Airtel, all other Nifty50 constituents ended in the green with PowerGrid Corporation, ONGC, Grasim Industries, UPL and Shree Cement rallying the most.

The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 0.4 per cent in the October-December 2020 period compared with the same period a year back, data released by the National Statistics Office on Friday showed.

Analysts said the high-frequency indicators were pointing towards the fact that the domestic economy is slowly entering the recovery path.

On Friday, the BSE Sensex had crashed 1,939.32 points or 3.80 per cent ? its worst one-day fall since May 4 last year. Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty had plunged 568.20 points or 3.76 per cent ? its biggest single-day drop since March 23 last year.

Foreign investors had sold equities worth Rs 8,295.17 crore on a net basis on Friday, as per exchange data.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses closed significantly higher amid some stability in bond markets after last week's turmoil. Further, progress in the US stimulus package also lent some support to investor sentiments globally.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.88 per cent lower at USD 65.39 per barrel.

On the forex market front, the rupee dropped 8 paise to end at 73.55 against the US dollar.