Equity benchmark Sensex jumped over 150 points in the early trading hours of Monday, aided by factors like strong inflow of foreign funds, a steady and rapid decline in Covid infections and a rally in some of the market heavyweights.

Kicking off the trade 180 points up, the 30-share S&P BSE index turned flat to trade 20.04 points or 0.04 per cent higher at 52,120.09 in initial deals. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 29.20 points or 0.19 per cent to 15,699.45.

PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 1 per cent, followed by L&T, NTPC, ONGC, ITC, SBI, Bajaj Auto and ICICI Bank. On the other hand, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC, Asian Paints and Dr Reddy’s were among the laggards.

The Sensex had ended Friday’s trading 132.38 points or 0.25 per cent lower at 52,100.05, while NSE Nifty had slipped 20.10 points or 0.13 per cent to 15,670.25. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market with a purchase volume of 1,499.37 crore shares on Friday, as per provisional exchange data.

“News is positive for markets. Since the US jobs numbers have come lower than expected, the Fed is likely to continue its accommodative stance with no indications about tapering. So the US 10-year yield is likely to remain stable with a negative bias till Thursday when the US inflation numbers will be released,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

FIIs have come back strongly this month with net equity purchases worth Rs 7,967 crore till June 4, he said, adding that frenzied retail participation is imparting resilience to markets.

GST collections in May at Rs 1.02 lakh crore came as a surprise since it was a month of subdued economic activity. “This is a reflection of the underlying strength and growth impulses in the economy,” he noted.

Further, economic activity is likely to gather momentum as most states are gradually opening up since fresh Covid cases have fallen, Vijayakumar said.

On Monday morning, India reported 1,00,636 fresh infections, the lowest in 61 days, taking the infection tally to 2,89,09,975, while the number of active cases dropped to 14,01,609, according to the Union health ministry data.

The death toll due to Corona virus infection reached 3,49,186 with 2,427 new fatalities, the lowest in around 45 days, the data showed. The daily positivity rate was recorded at 6.34 per cent – less than 10 per cent for 14 consecutive days. The weekly positivity rate has declined to 6.21 per cent.

The number of active cases has reduced to 14,01,609, comprising 4.85 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 93.94 per cent.

Recoveries continued to outnumber daily new cases for 25 consecutive days. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,71,59,180, while the case fatality rate has further increased to 1.21 per cent, the data stated.

The upbeat sentiment in the market helped the Indian currency gain 12 paise in the opening trade on Monday. The rupee traded at 72.87 against the US dollar in early trade.

Bourses in Shanghai and Hong Kong were in the red in mid-session deals, while Tokyo and Seoul were trading with gains. International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.58 per cent lower at $71.47 per barrel.