Opening Bell: Nifty above 16,500, Sensex adds over 600 points as benchmarks gain more than 1%; IT, Auto top gainers

Tracking strong closing in the US market on Friday and positive Asian markets this morning, the Indian markets started off to a strong start on Monday. Benchmarks Nifty50 and the Sensex gained more than one per cent in the opening trade. The broader Nifty 50 started above 16, 500 and the Sensex gained over 600 points as the two indices opened at 16,527.90 and 55,507.75 respectively 

Meanwhile, the Nifty midcap and smallcap gained over one per cent each too.  

Sectorally, auto, consumer durables gained most as all sectorl indices opened in the green on Monday. 

"The market is set for a near-term rally. The sharp upswing in Nasdaq & S&P 500 late last week indicates near-term trend reversal. The decline in dollar index and the US 10-year bond yields, too,  are positives for risk particularly in emerging markets," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

he said the beaten down IT segment is likely to stage a good comeback assisted by short-covering. "Financials, particularly the leading banks, have more room to go up assisted by delivery based investment buying. However, Brent crude at $ 120 is a major macro headwind," added the expert.

In the pre-open, the Sensex gained over 600 points as 26 stocks advanced and four shares declined on the 30-share index.  

Earlier, SGX Nifty, which indicate opening trend for the Indian market, saw Futures index surging by nearly 150 points on the Singaporean exchange this morning.  

Besides, other major Asian indices such as Japanese Nikkei 225, Hang Seng Index at the Hong Kong Exchange and Chinese Shanghai Composite were trading higher by 1.8%, 1.7% and 0.5% respectively on Monday morning.  

The US market also saw strong closing on Friday as Dow Jones gained around 600 points and Nasdaq nearly 400 points to close near the day's highs.