The day, however, remained highly volatile as markets recovered after a decline of nearly 200 points due to poor industrial growth numbers.
The 30-share Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) rose by 123 points or 0.74 per cent to close at 16,860. The S&P CNX Nifty, the broader index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), managed to gain 30 points or 0.60 per cent at 5,012. The BSE IT Index rose 1.48 per cent. The fall earlier in the day was triggered by dismal industrial production data.
The country's industrial production growth dropped sharply to 3 per cent in March 2008, slowing from the previous month's unrevised 8.6 per cent. It was the slowest monthly growth since a 2.4 per cent rise in February 2002.
According to the provisional data on stock exchanges, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers of stocks worth Rs 210 crore on Monday. Domestic institutions made purchases worth Rs 241 crore.
"Over 50 per cent of business for Indian IT companies comes from the US market. So the companies are likely to benefit due to the declining rupee. However, this decline in the rupee would not continue any longer as the central bank is likely to step in soon to halt the free fall or else it would become difficult for them to control inflation," said Ajay Pandey, VP, Systematix Share and Stocks.