Among the gainers from the Sensex were IDFC, Jaiprakash Associates, NTPC, ONGC and Housing Development Finance Corporation.

Reliance Industries Ltd was up 1 per cent despite reports that the Comptroller and Auditor General is likely to re-start audit of Reliance Industries' spending on the KG-D6 gas block early next month.

Among non index stocks SKS Micro Finance jumped after India's only listed micro-lender said it has completed two more securitisation transactions aggregating Rs 115 crore.

Cairn India also saw buying interest after the company said it has commenced oil production from the Aishwariya field in the Rajasthan Block bordering Pakistan and also begun commercial sale of gas from there. The stock was up 2 per cent.

Banking stocks which have been hammered down led gainers today with both the private sector and public sector names rallying. Among the winners from the space were ICICI Bank, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Yes Bank and Bank of Baroda.

Realty stocks which have been hammered out of shape in the last week saw fresh buying emerging in stocks like Unitech, DLF, Anant Raj, Indiabulls and HDIL.

Among the few Nifty losers in trade were Bharti Airtel, Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services.

Meanwhile, markets in Asia rallied with the Hong Kong's Hang Sang, the Chinese Shanghai Composite, Korean Kospi and Singapore's Strait Times all gaining ground, following the Cyprus deal.

Indian markets are likely to remain volatile given that the markets would be closed on Wednesday and Friday for Holi and Good Friday respectively. Thursday is expiry day which is likely to add further volatility to the indices.

GoodReturns.in