The Sensex on Monday closed 259 points higher, reacting to international cues and positive United States market news. Nifty50 moved 82.35 points higher to 8,224.50. Expectations from the Centre’s imminent announcement of the gross domestic product data on Wednesday evening also triggered an upward movement.

Maruti Suzuki, ICICI Bank, HUL, Sun Pharma and L&T were the major gainers while Coal India, GAIL, NTPC, HDFC and Reliance witnessed a downward spiral, MoneyControl reported.

During morning trade, several Asian currencies strengthened against the US dollar before a major Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries meeting. Hang Seng and Nikkei ended the day’s trade higher by 0.23 and 0.01%. The rupee was trading at 68.48 against its US counterpart.