Sensex rises by 338 points as IT, banking stocks gain

Ahead of the presentation of the Economic Survey on Monday, market indices began trading on a positive note in the first day of the Budget Week.

The stock markets surged to record highs today with the Nifty crossing the 11,150 mark and the Sensex rising over 300 points.

The survey pointed out that India can be rated as among the best performing economies in the world as the average growth during last three years is around 4 percentage points higher than global growth and almost 3 percentage points higher than that of emerging markets and developing economies. Meanwhile, the Nifty was trading lower by 50.30 points or 0.45% at 11,080.10 with 37 components falling.

The BSE auto index gained the most at 1.60 per cent, followed by IT 1.16 per cent, teck 0.92 per cent, consumer durables 0.60 per cent, metal 0.24 per cent, capital goods 0.17 per cent and bankex 0.14 per cent.

Market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, remained negative. The BSE small-cap index declined 1.10 per cent, while the mid-caps fell 0.73 per cent.

Biggest losers in the 30-share index were Asian Paint (2.30%), Power Grid Corporation of India (1.36%), I C I C I Bank (1.39%), Wipro (1.22%) and L&T (1.06%). The rupee was higher at 63.51 as compared to its previous close of 63.55. Japan's Nikkei 225 has shed 152 points to 23,477, Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng has dipped 25 points to 32,942 and China's Shanghai Composite has lost 9 points to 3,514.

The majority of European markets finished with modest losses on the first day of the new week as traders were in a cautious mood ahead of Bank of England Governor Mark Carney's speech before the United Kingdom parliament's Economic Affairs Committee in London on Tuesday.