)
Markets extend gains with the Nifty up 92 points at 6,087 and the Sensex advanced 304 points to trade at 20,522 on the back of buying in banks and index heavyweights like ITC, RIL and L&T.
______________________
(Updated at 0940 hrs)
Markets started the week on a strong note amid firm global cues, after losses in the previous three sessions. In the opening trades the Sensex was up 192 points at 20,409 and the Nifty gained 50 points to open above the 6,000 levels at 6,046.
Broader markets too started in the green with the midcap index up 0.8% and the smallcap index advanced 0.6%, both marginally underperforming the BSE benchmark index which gained over 1%.
Most Asian share indices were trading higher with the exception of Shanghai Composite which was down 0.4%. Japan's Nikkei led the gainers in the region up 1.3% on the back of a weaker yen. Further, the Hang Seng and Straits Times were marginally up 0.1% each.
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 ended at fresh highs on Friday after the US Fed hinted that it would continue with its monetary stimulus measures. The Dow Jones ended above 16,000 while the S&P 500 ended above 1,800 for the first time.
The Dow Jones Industrial average ended up 0.3%, to end at 16,065. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 0.5% at 1,805. The tech laden Nasdaq Composite Index ended up 0.6% at 3,992.
Back home, all the sectoral indices started in the green with gains of atleast 0.3%.
The banking index was the top sectoral gainer with gains of over 2% followed by Realty, PSU, Oil &Gas, FMCG, Capital Goods, Auto, Consumer Durables and Metal indices, all up 1% each.
Power, Health Care, Teck and IT indices added between 0.3-0.7%.
NTPC down 0.3% was the only stock in the red among the Sensex-30.
HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank up 2.5% each were the top gainers.
Tata Motors, HDFC, Hindalco, L&T, Sesa Sterlite, ITC, Hero MotoCorp, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, SBI, RIL, Gail India, BHEL and Tata Steel up 1-1.8% were the other prominent gainers.
The market breadth was very positive. 730 stocks advanced while 168 stocks declined on the BSE.
