Sensex ends April with biggest monthly gain in over 2 years

MUMBAI: Rising for the third session in a row on Monday, the benchmark BSE Sensex recaptured the 35,000-mark by surging about 191 points to end at a near three-month high of 35,160 as participants showed optimism in view of ongoing corporate earnings season.

Similarly, the Nifty crossed the 10,700-mark again riding on a slew of positive factors, including the RBI liberalising the external commercial borrowing (ECB) policy.

Additionally, the shares posted their biggest monthly gain in over two years, since March 2016, as technology scrips gained and on the back of strong Q4 numbers by HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank. Sentiment got a boost after the RBI on Friday further liberalised the ECB policy by including more sectors in the window, in a bid to facilitate easy access to overseas funds for India Inc, brokers said.

Besides, positive leads from other Asian bourses following last week’s historic North-South Korea summit, fuelling optimism, too had an impact on bourses here.

A higher opening in European markets too added to positivity. The gains were led by financial and technology stocks as investors widened their exposure ahead of key corporate results.

The January-March quarterly results posted by companies so far are largely in line with market expectations.