The Brent crude price has bounced nearing USD 60 per barrel, starting the week on strong note on Monday. The commodity market was boosted by supply cuts from key producers and rising optimism that there would be a fresh stimulus package in the US.

Brent Crude for April touched a high of USD 59.95 a barrel and was at USD 59.85, up 51 cents, or 0.9 percent. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) also advanced by 1 per cent.

Rising crude prices may have a cascading impact on petrol and diesel prices in India, which have now hit a new record high.

Petrol price in Mumbai has reached a record high of Rs 93.49, while in Bengaluru it was retailing at Rs 89.85. A sustained increase in petrol and diesel prices may also push inflation higher. Likewise, Diesel price in Delhi has already hit a new record high of Rs 77.13, and is slated to go higher in the coming days.

In stock markets, the benchmark indices continued with their strong rally for the sixth consecutive session on Monday after strong gains of over 9 percent during the last week. At 10 am, the BSE Sensex gained 620 points to 51352, while NSE Nifty was up by 176 points at 15000.90. Nifty Bank also gained 3 percent while broader markets with gains of 2% on the Nifty Mid-cap 100 outperformed the indices.

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