Sensex closes above 35,000 pts for first time, Nifty at 10,788; banking, IT stocks lead gains

In run up to the Narendra Modi-led BJP government's last full year Budget on February 1, the Sensex and Nifty extended their dream run and hit fresh lifetime highs on Wednesday.  

Aided by a rise in information technology and banking stocks, the Sensex closed above 35,000 level for the first time ever.

While the Sensex rose 310 points or 0.89% to close at 35,081, Nifty ended at a fresh closing high of 10,788, a gain of 88 points.

During the last hour of trade, the Sensex rose over 300 points to hit a new peak of 35,109 for the first time ever.

Easing fiscal deficit worries for the current fiscal also supported market sentiment after the goverment lowered the additional borrowing requirement for the current fiscal to Rs 20,000 crore from Rs 50,000 crore estimated earlier.

Bank Nifty rose 314 points or 1.21% to 26,289.10, a fresh closing high. Earlier the index rose to a fresh 52-week high 26,335 level.

On the BSE, bankex helped the market gain new highs with PNB (6.31%), Bank of Baroda (5.22%), Axis Bank (4.89%) rising the most on the index.

IT stocks such as TCS, Infosys, and HCL Technologies hit fresh 52-week highs on the back of falling rupee and a Morgan Stanley report stating the possibility of a pick-up in tech-spending during the current year could help improve investor sentiment towards IT stocks.

On Tuesday, the Indian currency fell sharply settling beyond the 64 mark against the US dollar.

Research firm Gartner too predicted global IT spending was expected to grow 4.5 per cent to $3.68 trillion this year.

At about USD 3.52 trillion currently, it is expected to grow further by 2.7 per cent next year to touch USD 3.78 trillion, Gartner said.

Top Sensex gainers were Axis Bank (4.65%), SBI (3.44%), and ICICI Bank (2.68%).

Wipro (1.85%), HDFC Bank (0.88%), Hero MotoCorp (0.80%) were the top losers on Sensex.

PowerGrid  (Rs 365 crore),  HDFC  (Rs 141.68 crore), and SBI (Rs 127.74 crore) were the top stocks in terms of volume contributors on the BSE.

Market breadth was mildly positive with 1458 stocks rising against 1443 falling on the BSE.

The HUL stock closed  0.68% or 9 points lower at 1371 level before the announcement of its Q3 earnings later in the day.