Sensex above 19,000; Sun Pharma at 52-week high, IT stocks lag

The stock markets opened higher on Monday, continuing their rally from Friday's highs. At 9:16 am, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 81.69 points to 19,098.15, while the broader 50-share NSE Nifty gained 30.35 points at 5,813.45.

T S Harihar of ICICI Securities said he expects a flat move until the derivatives expiry this week. "5,750-5,850 should be the cap upside...avoid buying in markets on the upmove."

Sun Pharma hit a 52-week high of  Rs 944.50.

IT stocks continued to fall. Wipro, which announced its Q4 results on Friday, slumped over 8 per cent, while Infosys was down over 1 per cent. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) fell 0.5 per cent, while HCL Techologies traded 0.2 per cent lower.

On the Sensex, the top gainers were Sun Pharma (2.79 per cent), HDFC Bank (2.17 per cent), Coal India (1.80 per cent), State Bank of India (1.41 per cent) and HDFC (1.39 per cent).

The losers' list included Wipro (7.95 per cent), Sterlite Industries (1.12 per cent), Infosys (0.98 per cent), ONGC (0.75 per cent) and TCS (0.26 per cent).

The Sensex surged over 250 points on Thursday to end over 19,000 levels, while the Nifty closed at a one-month high after encouraging trade data for March stoked rate cut hopes. The markets were closed on Friday.

"The Nifty's close on Friday reflects strength... an upside potential depends from range of 5800-5950 levels," market analyst Saumil Trivedi said.

Asian shares inched higher while oil and gold rebounded after last week's a sharp sell-off last week, but investors remained wary of volatility given uncertainty global growth prospects.