Indian equity benchmarks gained more than 3% during the first half of the trading session on Monday as investor sentiments received a boost with government easing the lockdown restrictions and a positive trend in Asian markets acting as a catalyst.
At 12 noon, the Sensex was up 1,044 points or 3.22% to trade at 33,468.
The gains were primarily led by financial sector with Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, Axis Bank, HDFC featured among the top gainers.
The overall market breadth was quite strong with over 1,700 stocks gaining ground as against only around 425 that declined.
The broader Nifty was up 303 points or 3.17% at 9,884.
The India VIX index, however, was also up a little over 2% during the afternoon session.
Market participants attributed the gains to the phased lifting of lockdown restrictions that is expected to revive economic activity.
Meanwhile, Asian markets were also trading strong with Hang Seng up over 3% while the benchmarks of Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia and China all gaining ground.