Nifty ends 2% up; banks, IT, oil & gas lead

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After witnessing bloodbath for previous two consecutive weeks, equity benchmarks saw a spectacular rally on Monday, led by buying across all sectors. The 50-share NSE Nifty closed above the 6000 - a psychologically important level by adding nearly 120 points while the Sensex was inching up towards 20,000 level.

Indian equities are in a structural bull market, says Ridham Desai of Morgan Stanley. He advised every dip is an opportunity to buy Indian equities. "No doubt, valuations are on the higher side and hence prospective returns are slowing but a dip makes these future returns more attractive and warrant buying," he explained.

All BSE sectoral indices ended in the green; the BSE Bank, IT, TECk and Realty indices jumped 2-2.6%. Auto, FMCG, Oil & Gas and Metal indices were up 1-1.8%.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 372.15 points or 1.90% to close at 19,957.59. Short covering could be another reason that led this upmove; the CNX Nifty surged 119.70 points or 2.03% to settle at 6,010.

Global cues were quite supportive in the second half of trade; European markets were trading 0.3-05% higher, at the time of closing of Indian equities. Even Dow Jones and Nasdaq futures gained 0.4-0.7%.

Heavyweights Reliance Industries and ONGC gained 1.6% & 2.6%, respectively. Technology was another leading sector followed by banks; Wipro shot up 4.35% and HCL Tech up 3.5%. TCS and Infosys were up 2.3-2.7%.

Financial space including HDFC Bank, HDFC and Axis Bank moved up over 3.3%. India's largest lenders - SBI and ICICI Bank went up 1.6% & 2.7%, respectively. IDFC was the top gainer on NSE Nifty; rallied 4.55% and Kotak Mahindra Bank jumped 4.3%. PNB gained 1.66%.