Mumbai, July 1 (IANS): Indian stock indices closed in green on Monday following the rally in IT shares. At closing, Sensex was at 79,476, up 443 points or 0.56 per cent and Nifty was up 131 points or 0.55 per cent, at 24,141.

During the day, midcap and smallcap stocks outperform compared to largecaps. The Nifty midcap 100 index was up 555 points or one per cent, at 56,292 and the Nifty smallcap was up 275 points or 1.51 per cent, at 18,593.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto, IT, fin service, media and bank were major gainers. Realty and energy index were major laggards.

Tech Mahindra, Wipro, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, TCS, Infosys, JSW Steel, and HDFC Bank were the top gainers. NTPC, SBI, L&T, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, and Bajaj Finserv were the top losers.

As per the market experts, "The domestic market sustained its upward momentum, with a reduction in US PCE inflation raising hopes for a rate cut by the FED in September. This optimism contributed to the strong performance of IT stocks. We anticipate this trend will persist in the near term due to expectations of a rebound in discretionary spending."

"Investors are now focusing on upcoming US job data and the Fed Chair's speech for further indication on interest rates," they added.

The market had started flat on Monday. The Sensex was trading above 79,000 with marginal gains and Nifty was around 24,000.