Carrying forth its gains into the fifth week, the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was up 186 points on Monday, and closed at 10,534, while the Nifty was up by 45 points to close at 3,256. With the Indian markets consolidating, the index traded between 10,654 and 10,411.

The figures marked the highest level of the benchmark index since 10 November, 2008; thanks to the rising sanguinity about the global economy, and metals and capital goods, and auto stocks showing robust gains.

In Monday's broad rally the market breadth was positive - while 72 stocks remained unaffected; the 1860 gainers on the BSE easily surpassed the 635 losers.

Among the top gainers in the 30-share index were - Mahindra & Mahindra with 12.07 percent; Reliance Communications up 11.93 percent; Larsen & Toubro rising 7.63 percent; HDFC 7.56 percent; and Reliance Infrastructure up by 6.55 percent were the biggest gainers in the 30-share index.

The top losers included - ITC which fell 2.97 percent; Grasim Industries 2.87 percent; ACC 2.63 percent; Ranbaxy Laboratories 2.47 percent; and Hindustan Unilever dropped 1.56 percent.

Commenting on the Monday rally, Ajay Bagga - India-Deutsche Bank's Private Wealth Management Head - said: "This rally driven by global markets appears to have some more legs. Globally, the liquidity scenario has improved and the risk appetite of investors has also increased."