The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex on Monday closed 116 points higher at 32,506.72, while the National Stock Exchange Nifty gained 38.30 points to end at 10,184.85.

The bourses recovered after ending on a weak note in a special Muhurat trading session on Thursday. The Nifty50 had briefly regained the 10,200 mark in early trade because of fresh buying by investors amid positive cues from other Asian markets.

Brokers told PTI that investors were buying in the hope of encouraging blue chip companies to release their quarterly reports.

The major gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel (which gained 4.99%), Reliance Industries, BHEL, ICICI Bank and Wipro. Tata Motors was the worst performer, losing 2.71%, followed by Cipla, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra and HDFC.

The best performers on the Nifty were Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement, Reliance, Ambuja Cements and ICICI Bank. Cipla was the poorest performer, followed by Bharti Infratel, Axis Bank, UPL and Indiabulls Housing Finance.

Other major Asian markets had a mixed day on Monday. The Hong Kong Hang Seng shed over 181 points, but Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 239 points after Shizo Abe was reelected prime minister with a two-thirds majority. The Taiwan TSEC 50 Index and the Shanghai SE Composite Index finished almost flat.

The rupee traded four paise up against the United States dollar at 64.99 at 4.25 pm.