Mumbai, Jul 20 (PTI) Equity benchmarks defied gravity for the fourth straight session on Monday as robust buying in banking, financials and IT counters offset lacklustre global cues amid mounting COVID-19 cases.

Starting the session on a positive note, the BSE Sensex marked the day's high at 37,478.87, before closing at 37,418.99, up 398.85 points or 1.08 per cent.

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Likewise, the broader NSE Nifty climbed 120.50 points or 1.11 per cent to end at 11,022.20.

The Sensex has now gained 1,385.93 points in four sessions, while the Nifty has advanced 414.85 points.

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Bajaj Finance was the top gainer in the Sensex pack on Monday, spurting 4.23 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, HCL Tech, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank.

Market heavyweight HDFC Bank accounted for most of the gains on the benchmark after posting strong results over the weekend.

The country's largest private sector lender clocked a nearly 20 per cent rise in standalone net profit at Rs 6,658.62 crore for the June quarter on the back of healthy interest income driven by growth in advances.

Sun Pharma, NTPC, Maruti Suzuki, Kotak Mahindra Bank and L&T were among the losers, shedding up to 3.86 per cent.

Encouraging earnings by corporates and a rising rupee had a rub-off effect on investor sentiment, analysts said.

The rupee ended 11 paise higher at 74.91 against the US dollar.

"Nifty continued its momentum and closed above the 11000 mark. This was in spite of increasing virus infections, both in India and abroad. The earnings...declared so far have been positive, as the sectoral leaders, especially in the IT and banking sectors, have emerged better than expected in a quarter that was considered to be a washout, in terms of business.

"These two indices were also the main gainers in today's trade. Uptrend may continue but it will be stock specific and investors seem to be looking at the earnings commentary for further direction," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Sectorally, BSE IT, teck, telecom, finance and banking indices rose as much as 2.30 per cent. However, BSE healthcare, power, capital goods and utilities closed with losses.

Broader BSE large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap indices rose up to 1.01 per cent, underperforming the benchmark.

Asian markets closed lower as a surge in COVID-19 cases weighed on investor sentiment globally. European equities were on the back foot in opening trade amid negotiations between EU leaders for a recovery fund to spur growth amid the coronavirus crisis.

The number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.45 crore and the death toll has topped 6.06 lakh.

In India, the death toll due to the disease rose to 27,497 and the number of infections crossed the 11-lakh mark on Monday, according to the health ministry.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.81 per cent to USD 42.79 per barrel.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)