Sensex gains 479 points; oil and gas stocks surge

A benchmark index for Indian equities, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange, closed 479.28 points, or 1.77 percent, up on Monday after the passage of the Finance Bill 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha.

The 30-share Sensex, which opened at 27,204.63 points, closed at 27,490.59 points -- up 479.28 points, or 1.77 percent, over the previous trading day's close at 27,011.31 points on Thursday. It touched a high of 27,537.85 points and a low of 27,159.45 points in Monday's trade.

The wider Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed 150.45 points or 1.84 percent higher. It posted its biggest daily gain in more than two months.

In Monday's trade, good buying was observed in oil and gas, realty and healthcare sectors.

Among the 12 sector-specific indices of the Mumbai bourse, oil and gas index increased by 3.52 percent, realty moved up by 2.51 percent and healthcare index gained by 2.35 percent.

The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were up by 1.79 percent and 1.78 percent, respectively. Mid-cap index was higher by around 1.28 percent and small-cap stocks ended 2.06 percent higher.

The major Sensex gainers on Monday were: ONGC, up 7.57 percent at Rs.327.65; Bajaj Auto, up 7.40 percent at Rs.2,093.70; Cipla, up 5.80 percent at Rs.674; and Mahindra & Mahindra, up 4.72 percent at Rs.1,199.25.

The losers were: ICICI Bank, down 0.63 percent at Rs.329.15; Tata Motors, down 0.34 percent at Rs.506.70; and L&T, down 0.12 percent at Rs.1,630.50.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up by 0.06 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained by 0.90 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was lower by 0.03 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 went up by 0.36 percent, France's CAC 40 gained by 1.15 percent and Germany's DAX Index was up by 1.37 percent at the closing in the Indian markets.