BENGALURU: Indian shares settled marginally higher on Monday, helped by gains in heavyweight financial stocks including State Bank of India, and as daily coronavirus infections fell further.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 index closed 0.15% higher at 15,197.70, while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.22% to 50,651.90. Both the indexes gained more than 3% last week.

The Nifty PSU Bank Index, which tracks state-owned banks, ended 2.13% higher, marking its fourth straight session of gains.

Private-sector lender HDFC Bank and State Bank of India were the top boosts to the Nifty 50, closing 0.8% and 2.7% higher, respectively.

Among losers, JSW Steel Ltd closed 2.4% lower after it said it was not looking at buying any overseas assets. Reuters and other media had reported earlier that the steel producer was considering a bid to acquire Liberty Steel in Britain as well as mills elsewhere.