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The Indian stock market enjoyed a great rally on Monday. Both benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, ended trading today with major gains. The BSE Sensex settled the session just under 81,300, soaring almost 700 points, while the NSE Nifty50 ended trading near 24,900, jumping more than 250 points.

On the 30-share Sensex, Maruti settled more than 9 per cent higher, followed by Bajaj Finance, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finserv, and M&M. Meanwhile, the laggards were dominated by ITC, Eternal, Tech M, L&T, and NTPC.

In the broader markets, the Nifty Microcap250 surged 1.55 per cent. Sectorally, the Nifty Auto closed over 4 per cent higher, followed by the Consumer Durables index which climbed 3.34 per cent. On the other hand, the IT index dipped 0.55 per cent.

However, the indices pared gains made during the day. Starting the week on a strong note, Dalal Street got rid of Monday blues as investors piled into auto and consumer durable stocks in the morning. Optimism over upcoming reforms in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime ahead of Diwali, coupled with S&P’s upgrade of India’s sovereign credit rating, fuelled sentiment. The Sensex surged 1,168.11 points, or 1.44 per cent, to cross 81,750 during the session, while the Nifty advanced nearly 400 points, or 1.58 per cent, to cross 25k in intra-day trading.

Auto Stocks Led The Rally Today

Automobile counters were the standout performers. Shares of Hero MotoCorp jumped nearly 9 per cent, while the broader Auto index registered a 4.57 per cent gain to 56,404.06. The sector is expected to be a major beneficiary of the proposed tax restructuring, which aims to bring most goods and services into two GST brackets of 5 per cent and 18 per cent, down from the existing four-slab system. “Declarations by the prime minister on the next major reforms in GST by Diwali are a big positive. S&P upgrading India’s sovereign credit rating is another major positive,” said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments Limited.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address on August 15, unveiled a plan to overhaul the GST framework. Data from the exchanges showed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 1,926.76 crore on Thursday. That day, the Sensex had inched up 57.75 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 80,597.66, while the Nifty added 11.95 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 24,631.30. Markets had remained shut on Friday for the Independence Day holiday.