Markets report biggest monthly gain in 2 years; IT and FMCG stocks jump

Sensex gained nearly 0.6% on Monday, ending the month with a 6.7% gain

Defying spiraling crude oil prices and weakness in the rupee, the benchmark stock indices ended April with a gain of nearly seven per cent, their best monthly performance since March 2016. 

In the preceding two months, the market had fallen a little over 10 per cent amid a jump in US bond yields, flaring of global trade tensions and domestic worries such as the banking fraud and increase in political uncertainty ahead of the 2019 general election. 

The rebound has come on the back of a favourable monsoon outlook, gains in information technology (IT) stocks — the second biggest sectoral weight in