Operators said that the reports of easing sanctions came as a shot in the arm among the bull operators who indulged in large-scale buying activity. Easing of US sanctions likely to benefit infrastructure projects, as a result of which scrips related to core sector like cement, steel were traded heavily and notched-up huge gains, they said.

Brokers said the rally which began on Friday continued in stocks that are being targeted for a buyback. PSUs such as BHEL and MTNL have begun to trade on larger volumes as the market interest in them improved. Other stocks such as L&T, RIL, Essel Packaging andeven companies such as Arvind Mills and Raymonds have found a lot of buying interest.

Pivotals like BHEL, Crompton Greaves, East India Hotel, Telco, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, ICICI, Great Eastern Shipping, Ballarpur Industries, ITC, SBI, Reliance remained at the forefront among the gainers, while Wipro, Pentafour Software and Infosys tech reported small to moderate losses, dealers said.

The US decision was unexpected and, therefore, it has improved market sentiments on the bourse, brokers said. There was a major rally in banking and financial sector stocks like IDBI and ICICI, which almost hit the upper circuit. Besides major bank stocks such as SBI and Corporation Bank also gained. The total turnover was Rs 1315.27 crore. Satyam topped the list with a turnover of Rs 174.21 crore and the scrip firmed up by Rs 17.25 to Rs 593.

On the NSE, the sentiment remained firm as the pivotals registered significant gains on heavy buying support from foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic institutionalinvestors.