The Sensex on Monday raced past 73000 and the Nifty closed above 22000 on the back of an IT rally led by Wipro, which hit a 52-week high and was the biggest gainer on both bellwether indices.

Investor sentiment on IT stocks remained buoyant amid expectations that discretionary spending would return to the sector. The BSE IT index climbed 1.79 per cent to 37785.92, the highest among the sectoral indexes, along with teck.

Shares of Wipro on Monday ended more than 6 per cent, adding Rs 15,321.41 crore to its market valuation, after the IT company’s December quarter earnings beat estimates.

The stock jumped 6.25 per cent to settle at Rs 494.55 apiece on the BSE. During the day, it zoomed 13.10 per cent to reach its 52-week high of Rs 526.45.

Rising for the fifth session, the 30-share Sensex zoomed 759.49 points or 1.05 per cent to a lifetime closing high of 73327.94. The BSE bellwether climbed to 73402.16 during the day, an all-time high.

On the NSE, the Nifty added 202.90 points or 0.93 per cent, ending at a closing high of 22097.45. During the day, it zoomed 221 points or 1 per cent to reach a record intra-day high of 22115.55.

Markets have turned optimistic about the IT order book led by the BFSI vertical, which was validated by the Q3 results of Wipro and HCL on Friday.

Shares of HCL Technologies climbed 3 per cent on Monday after the company reported a 6.2 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 4,350 crore in the December quarter. The stock ended 2.90 per cent higher at Rs 1,587.70 apiece on the BSE.

On the NSE, it advanced 3 per cent to Rs 1,588. During the day, it rallied 5.11 per cent to Rs 1,619.60 — its 52-week high.

“The market gained momentum, led by the uptick in the IT index with growing optimism about increased discretionary spending and strong deal wins.

“The US bond yield edged lower as market participants bet on a Fed easing cycle, which is expected to start in March,” Vinod Nair, head of research, Geojit Financial Services said.

Analysts said even retail inflation data for December aided the rally. Though retail inflation rose to 5.69 per cent, it was lower than estimates of around 5.90 per cent.

Investors are betting on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep the rates unchanged only till June, with rate cuts starting thenceforth.

Government bonds also rallied on Monday with the 10-year paper trading at 7.15 per cent against the previous close of 7.18 per cent. During the day, it had raced to a six-month low of 7.13 per cent.