Mumbai: The Sensex Monday wrapped up the best quarterly gain in almost five years after rallying 314 points on hopes of strong economic reforms in the first budget under the Narendra Modi government
Fall in global crude oil prices also boosted the market sentiment to some extent, dealers said.
ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro, ITC, ONGC, HDFC, Sun Pharma, SBI, TCS, Infosys and HDFC were the major gainers in Sensex that ended at nearly two-week high levels today.
The BSE Sensex resumed higher at 25,179.55 and firmed up further to a high of 25,460.96 before settling at 25,413.78, its best closing since June 17. It notched up a rise of 313.86 points or 1.25 percent, today. It had gained over 37 points on Friday.
"Now, the countdown has begun for the Union Budget and market participants are eyeing pre-budget rally," said Jayant Manglik, President-retail distribution, Religare Securities.
For the quarter ended June 30, the Sensex rose 3,027.51 points or 13.5 percent on the back of robust inflows as the BJP government stormed to power at the Centre after polls
This was the best quarter since the index rose by 18 percent in September 2009 quarter.
The BSE index gained about 1,196 points in June alone.
Meanwhile, the NSE 50-share Nifty rose by 102.55 points or 1.37 percent, to end at 7,611.35 today.
Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 182.55 crore on last Friday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Second-tier counters attracted good retail investors buying support and their indices outperformed the Sensex.
Asian stocks firmed up ahead of packed week of economic data. Key indices in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan rose by 0.44 percent to 0.93 percent while indices in China and Singapore fell by 0.13 percent to 0.47 percent.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery fell 26 cents to USD 105.48 and Brent crude eased 22 cents to USD 113.08 per barrel in afternoon trade.
European markets were trading mixed in their early trade as investors awaited data on US home sales later in the global day. Indices in Germany and the UK moved up by 0.03 percent to 0.3 percent while France's CAC was down 0.05 percent.
Commenting on the Indian markets, Jignesh Chaudhary, Head of Research, Veracity Broking Services said: "To start the week, Indian indices extended its gain taking cues from the previous session. Indices gained over one percent with the help of some blue chips. Positive sentiments regards to the Budget on July 10 supported the indices."
Twenty four of the 30-share Sensex pack ended higher while only six finished with losses.
Besides ONGC, major gainers were Sun Pharma (3.87 percent), Tata Power (3.81 percent), Dr Reddy's (2.43 percent), ICICI Bank (2.43 percent), NTPC (2.16 percent), BHEL (2.12 percent), Larsen & Toubro (2.12 percent), Hindalco (1.96 percent), SBI (1.86 percent) and Tata Steel (1.69 percent).
Bharti Airtel (1.60 percent), ITC (1.58 percent), HDFC (1.49 percent) and Gail India (1.37 percent) also gained.
Sensex laggards were led by Bajaj Auto that fell 1.02 percent.
Among the S&P BSE sectoral indices, Power rose by 2.88 percent, followed by Capital Goods 2.18 percent, Healthcare 1.80 percent, Bankex 1.71 percent, Oil&Gas 1.46 percent, Metal 1.24 percent and Realty 1.05 percent.
Mid-cap and Small-cap indices also rose by 1.89 percent and 1.80 percent respectively on good demand from retail.
Market breadth remained positive as 2,130 stocks finished with gains while 927 stocks ended lower. Total turnover rose further to Rs 3,550.80 crore from Rs 3,361.27 crore last Friday.
