The Sensex and Nifty gained for a second consecutive session on Tuesday, with the NSE index hitting its highest in nearly 11 months, on the back of encouraging US data and expectations of further monetary stimulus from global policymakers.

The gains come a day after the US benchmark S&P 500 stock index set record intraday and closing highs, as last week's strong monthly US jobs report worked its way into financial markets.

GST Bill, earnings season

Meanwhile, the strong likelihood of a Goods and Services Tax Bill being passed in the monsoon session of Parliament, which starts on July 18, and hopes of a good start to the quarterly earnings season also boosted investor sentiment.

Gains in share markets also tracked a rally in government bonds, as debt investors bet on benign inflation data later in the day and awaited the government's announcement on the next central bank governor.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended higher by 181.45 points or 0.66 per cent at 27,808.14 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty ended up by 53.15 points or 0.63 per cent at 8,521.05.

A report by SMC Global said: " Asian stocks climbed for a second day, with the regional benchmark index heading for its highest close in a month, as a tumbling yen sent Japanese equities higher and US shares rallied to an all-time high. US stocks closed higher on Monday as investors cheered an election in Japan and extended a jobs-report rally. Producer prices in Japan were down 0.1 per cent on month in June, the Bank of Japan said. That was in line with expectations following the downwardly revised 0.1 per cent gain in May (originally 0.2 percent). On a yearly basis, producer prices dropped 4.2 per cent after shedding 4.3 per cent in the previous month. Export prices were flat on month and down 4.4 per cent on year, the bank said, while import prices climbed 1.8 per cent on month and tumbled 12.9 per cent on year."

Among BSE sectoral indices, metal index gained the most by 2.87 per cent, realty 2.02 per cent, banking 1.62 per cent and infrastructure 1.06 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index was down 0.49 per cent, FMCG 0.48 per cent, power 0.07 per cent and IT 0.03 per cent.

Gainers, losers

Top five Sensex gainers were ICICI Bank (+4.68%), Tata Steel (+4.63%), Axis Bank (+3.03%), Maruti (+2.27%) and HDFC (+1.5%), while the major losers were Coal India (-1.14%), Cipla (-0.99%), Asian Paints (-0.82%), Sun Pharma (-0.73%) and Dr Reddy's (-0.69%).

Banks were among the top gainers, with major private sector banks pushing the Nifty Bank Index up 0.81 per cent.

“Private-sector banks are likely to continue to see healthy growth and gain significant loan market share,” HSBC analysts wrote in a note, estimating a 21 per cent loan growth for private banks.

Among other gainers, staffing firm Quess Corp Ltd's surged 60 per cent in a strong market debut.

Aluminium giant Hindalco Industries rose to an over one-year high on rival Alcoa Inc's upbeat earnings.

Meanwhile, Coal India Ltd was the top percentage loser on both indexes, falling as much 2.4 per cent on lower-than-expected buyback plan.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) purchased shares worth Rs 1,055.80 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

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