Equity indices made a strong start to the week on Monday, with the Sensex and Nifty closing at near four-month highs, tracking gains in index majors HDFC twins and Reliance Industries amid positive global market trends.

The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 465.14 points or 0.80 per cent to finish at 58,853.07 -- its highest closing since April 11 this year.

The broader NSE Nifty gained 127.60 points or 0.73 per cent to end at 17,525.10.

Mahindra & Mahindra was the biggest gainer from the Sensex pack, climbing 3.13 per cent, followed by Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Larsen & Toubro, HDFC, Dr Reddy's, IndusInd Bank and Reliance Industries.

In contrast, SBI was the top loser, dropping 1.95 per cent, after the country's biggest lender posted a 7 per cent decline in standalone net profit to Rs 6,068 crore for the June quarter.

UltraTech Cement, Nestle India, Wipro, PowerGrid and Sun Pharma were among the other major laggards.

"Sustained FII buying and falling oil prices are the major drivers for the ongoing market rally. Heavyweights played a significant role in today's rise, while PSU banks remained under pressure following weak results of the PSB major," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd, said FIIs, which were missing from the action over the past few months, have once again started taking exposure in local equities, providing a major impetus to the markets.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.31 per cent and the smallcap gained 0.28 per cent.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, capital goods jumped 2 per cent, followed by power (1.92 per cent), utilities (1.61 per cent), metal (1.27 per cent), industrials (1.11 per cent) and auto (1.05 per cent).

Oil and gas was the only laggard.

On the global front, markets in Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo ended higher, while Hong Kong settled with losses.

European bourses were trading in the green during mid-session deals. The US markets had ended mostly lower on Friday.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.68 per cent to USD 94.32 per barrel.

The rupee fell 40 paise to close at 79.64 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital markets as they bought shares worth Rs 1,605.81 crore on Friday, as per exchange data.

Markets will remain closed on Tuesday for Muharram.