The Indian equity benchmarks extended gains in noon trading on Monday led by gains in Infosys, HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, and Wipro. The Sensex rose as much as 578 points and the Nifty 50 index surpassed its important level of 16,700. Drop in oil prices in international markets led to an uptick in Indian markets today, analysts said. With today's gain markets are looking forward to ending higher for the fifth session in a row.