By IANS,
Mumbai : Indian equities markets opened strong Monday and steadily gained throughout the day to end in the green with a key index gaining by more than 500 points to breach the psychologically important 10,000 mark once again, thanks to the US markets ending with gains Friday and other Asian markets too showing gains Monday.
Analysts, however, felt much of the buying was due to short covering rather than any positive change in investor sentiment.
The 30-share benchmark sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) closed at 10,536.16, up 571.87 points or 5.74 percent from its previous close Friday at 9,964.29 points.
The Sensex opened strong at 10,154.56 points, up 190.27 points or 1.9 percent from its previous close and continued to gain steadily throughout the day.
The broader-based 50 share S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also showed a similar trend to close at 3,080.90, up 107.9 points or 3.63 percent from its previous close Friday at 2,973.00 points.
The BSE midcap index finished at 3,475.09, up 119.71 points or 3.57 percent from its previous close at 3,355.38 points.
The BSE smallcap index closed at 3,988.03, up 87.93 points or 2.25 percent from its previous close at 3,900.10 points.
All sectoral indices showed gains with metal, power, capital goods and oil and gas showing the most gains.
Of the 30 stocks that make up the Sensex, only two – ITC Ltd. and Maruti Suzuki – ended with losses of 1.37 and 0.27 percwent respectively.
Among the gainers, Sterlite Industries led with a gain of 13.43 percent followed by Tata Steel, up 12.81 percent, Reliance Infrastructure, up 10.93 percent and Hindalco, up 10.5 percent.
As many as 1,694 scrips or 64.61 percent advanced, 855 or 32.61 declined and 73 or 2.78 percent remained unchanged.
Although sentiment was positive Monday, analysts were reluctant to predict any sustained upsurge in the next few days.