Mumbai, January 21: The BSE benchmark Sensex continued its winning run for the fifth straight session Monday, rallying 192 points, and the NSE Nifty inched toward the 11,000 mark, riding on strong Q3 earnings by some bluechip companies, coupled with positive global cues.

Sensex went past the 36,700-mark to scale a high of 36,701.03 (intra-day) on the back of widespread gains. Finally, the 30-share index settled at 36,578.96, up 192.35 points, or 0.53 per cent. It touched a low of 36,351.77. The gauge had risen 533.05 points in the previous four sessions. The Nifty touched the session high (intra-day) of 10,987.45; and finally closed the session with a rise of 54.90 points, or 0.50 per cent, at 10,961.85. Sensex Jumps 250 Points; Nifty Tests 10,950.

"After opening in the green, market remained in the positive territory buoyed by positive global sentiments amid signs that the US and China were closing in on a trade truce," said Paras Bothra, President, Equity Research, Ashika Group. Both benchmark indices were driven by strong gains in IT, tech, oil and gas, pharma and banking shares amid earnings optimism. Sensex Dips Over 600 Points in Opening Trade, Nifty Drops Over 180 Points Over Exit Poll Results 2018.

Sentiment remained upbeat after Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and few others posted better-than-expected Q3 numbers last week, traders said. Among Sensex components, the oil-to-telecom conglomerate Reliance Industries zoomed 4.36 percent to its highest in two months in its second session of gains after reporting record quarterly earnings.

Shares of HDFC Bank jumped 0.72 per cent after the private sector lender reported 20 per cent rise in net profit in December 2018 quarter. Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management said, "It is clearly morphing into a market where strong earnings are being rewarded. Capital continues to seek growth at reasonable prices."

As we move forward this year, the macro factors remain favourable, but stock performance is increasingly likely to be driven by earnings and fundamentals at the security level, he added. Shares of Sun Pharmaceutical Industries rose 1.94 per cent in opening trade after it sought intervention from market regulator Sebi, alleging unfair business practices against the company.

This is the first uptick in the counter after two successive sessions of beating, wherein the stock lost as much as 13.80 per cent. Others which supported the key indices were Kotak Bank (2.42 per cent), Bajaj Finance (1.89 per cent), Infosys (1.61 per cent), Asian Paint (1.33 per cent), TCS (0.28 per cent), HUL (0.26 per cent), Tata Steel (0.22 per cent) and Vedanta (0.13 per cent).

Laggards include Hero MotoCorp, Yes Bank, Maruti Suzuki, PowerGrid, Bajaj Auto, SBI, Tata Motors, ONGC, NTPC, Axis Bank, M&M, IndusInd Bank, ITC Ltd, Coal India, L&T, ICICI Bank, HCL Tech, Bharti airtel and HDFC Ltd, falling up to 3.40 per cent. Mid-cap and small-cap indices ended lower by up to 0.70 per cent as investors were seen booking profits in recent gainers.

Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth a net of Rs 124.91 crore, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares to the tune of Rs 97 crore on Friday, as per provisional data. Most of other Asian bourses rose with Shanghai leading the gains, as investors hoped for more stimulus from China after disappointing growth, amid optimism about the US and China progressing with trade talks.

European shares were up in their early deals, tracking weekend gains at the Wall Street. Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.56 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.26 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.39 per cent,Taiwan 0.54 per cent and Korea's KOSPI 0.02 per cent.

European shares were somewhat weak in their late morning deals. Frankfurt's DAX was down 0.54 per cent, while Paris CAC 40 shed 0.25 per cent. London's FTSE, however, was up 0.15 per cent. The rupee, meanwhile, weakened against the dollar to 71.22 as Brent crude, the international benchmark, climbed to two-month high of USD 62.94 per barrel.