Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], July 20 (ANI): Equity benchmark indices closed over 1 per cent higher on Monday following handsome gains by IT stocks while Asian markets continued to flounder amid a spike in global coronavirus cases.

At the closing bell, the BSE SP Sensex was up by 399 points or 1.08 per cent at 37,419 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 121 points or 1.11 per cent at 11,022.

Except for Nifty pharma which slipped by 1.6 per cent, all sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the positive zone with Nifty IT up by 2.6 per cent, financial service by 1.6 per cent, private bank by 1.5 per cent and auto by 0.5 per cent.

Among stocks, FMCG major Britannia emerged as the winner of the day after surging by 5.1 per cent to Rs 3,978.80 per share.

IT major Wipro and Infosys advanced by 4.4 per cent each while Tech Mahindra and HCL Technologies closed 4.3 per cent and 4.2 per cent higher respectively.

HDFC Bank gained by 2.8 per cent to Rs 1,143.20 per share after the private sector lender reported nearly 20 per cent jump in its Q1 net profit at Rs 6,659 crore.

The other prominent gainers were Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Hero MotoCorp and UPL. However, Sun Pharma dipped by 3.9 per cent to Rs 483.95 per share and Cipla by 2.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were downbeat as a spike in global coronavirus cases hung over markets. Investors awaiting efforts at the outcome of a European Union summit to put together fiscal stimulus plans to fight the pandemic.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index faltered by 0.12 per cent and South Korea's Kospi was down by 0.14 per cent but Japan's Nikkei gained marginally by 0.09 per cent. (ANI)

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