The key equity indices edged higher on Monday underpinned by the gains in the other regional peers. Sentiments were lifted by the strong employment data for the month of February from the US. The domestic markets witnessed a gap-up opening indicating bullish sentiment on the street. The early gains helped the BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty to surpass the psychological 17,000 and 5,100 levels, respectively in trade. They moved in a tight band after that. The markets pared gains on profit booking in late afternoon trades but managed to log off the session on a positive note. The benchmark indices closed above the crucial levels of 17,000 (Sensex) and 5100 (Nifty), which may trigger further up-move in the equities in coming days. Investors rushed for vehicle makers' stocks as the domestic auto industry recorded its highest ever car sales in the month of February. Banking, healthcare and capital goods stocks were the other prominent gainers in trade while realty, consumer durables and metal stocks took some beating from the bears. Among frontliners, largest lender of the country -- State Bank of India (SBI) -- saw sudden spike in trade following introduction of the SBI (amendment) bill by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The stock finished the session with gains of over one percent. Finally, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose 108.11 points or 0.64% to end at 17,102.60 while the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty jumped 35.30 points or 0.69% to close at 5,124.

The US markets closed flat on the first trading day of the week, the markets got a halt from the rally they got with better than expected jobs number. Initial mood of the markets were good as the American International Group Inc. reached a deal to sell one of its major foreign divisions to MetLife Inc. for $15.5 billion. And Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina offered to buy Australia's Arrow Energy for $3 billion in cash and stock but investors didn't looked impressed with the deals and remained sideways for the day. Now investors are looking for reassurance that the economy is strong enough to justify the past year's rally. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 13.68 points, or 0.13%, to 10552.52. The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed a tad lower by 0.19 points, or 0.02%, to 1,138.50 while the Nasdaq composite index added 5.8 6points, or 0.25%, to 2332.21, its 18 month high.

Crude prices ended higher for the second straight day on Monday on the back of weakness in dollar and some strength in euro. The euro was up slightly against the dollar as concerns about Greece's fiscal crisis eased after French President Nicolas Sarkozy came up with assertive statement to help the country. The crude prices touched their eight-week high in range-bound trading on light volume. Benchmark crude for April delivery settled up 37 cents, or 0.45 percent, at $81.87 a barrel after trading in a range of $80.75 to $82.41on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, April Brent crude ended up 58 cents, or 0.73 percent, at $80.47 a barrel.

The Indian rupee surged to near its two month high level on Monday. The domestic currency made a firm start tracking the gains in regional equity markets and the weakness in dollar against other major currencies. The continued upmove of the local equity markets too supported the rupee. The euro firmed up on expectation that Greece will get proper help from the EU. On the domestic front the consistent flow of foreign funds into and out of markets has been strengthening the rupee. In its intraday trade the rupee touched its high of 45.42, its strongest since January 12.Finally the rupee closed at 45.53, 8 paise higher compared to its Friday's close of 45.61.

The FII on Friday were the net buyers in both equity as well as debt segments. In equity segment the gross buying was of Rs 2585.10 crore against gross sell of Rs 1892.90 crore, while in the debt segment the gross purchase was of Rs 981.50 crore with gross sales of Rs 502.90 crore.

The US markets closed flat on Monday as the investors were not looking impressed with the latest deal makings, which in the past have been morale booster for the markets. The Asian markets, after a rally in previous session are looking in consolidation mood and most of the indices are trading marginally lower in the early hour of trades. The domestic markets continued their post budget rally but today are likely to make a flat to positive start as the global cues are not very supportive and some sectors like realty and metals might see some profit booking. Today the buzz is from primary market as the government has fixed a price band of Rs 300-350 for the FPO of NMDC.

Support and Resistance: S&P CNX Nifty and BSE Sensex

Nifty Top volumes

• Suzlon Energy has bagged Rs 39 crore worth of order from cement producer -- Mangalam Cement -- for 6 wind mills of 1.25 megawatt (MW) each.
• Unitech Wireless has decided to expand its horizon with launching its service in five more circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Kolkata, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
• ITC had said that hike in cigarette prices was inevitable due to imposition of excise duty on tobacco in the Union Budget.
• Finance minister has introduced a bill to amend State Bank of India (ABI) Act. to cut government's  minimum holding in the bank to 51%.
• Bharti Airtel is looking to raise $7 billion via a six-year US dollar loan with an average maturity of 4.75 years to finance the Zain's buy.

State-run NMDC has bid for a stake in Australia-based Atlas Iron's mine. A non-binding bid worth $230 million has been submitted for the 70% stake of the mining project by the consortium of three companies of which the PSU is on...