The Indian equity benchmarks gained for second straight session on Monday led by gains HDFC, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Titan and Bajaj Finance. The benchmarks edged lower in opening deals but staged a strong recovery in afternoon trading with Sensex rising as much as 819 points from the day’s lowest level and Nifty 50 index touching high of 18,079.85 after hitting an intraday low of 17,836.

The Sensex ended 478 points higher at 60,546 and Nifty 50 index advanced 152 points to settle at 18,069.

“The Nifty witnessed some swift recovery from the support levels and was able to breach an important resistance level of 18,000. If Nifty is able to sustain the level of 18,000, it can witness a positive momentum in the market which can lead to the higher levels near 18,250. The momentum indicators like RSI and MACD indicating positive momentum in the market,” said Vijay Dhanotiya, lead of technical research at CapitalVia Global Research.