Sensex rises over 300 pts to 35,109 for first time, Nifty hits 10,795; banking, IT stocks, easing fiscal worries support sentiment

In run up to Narendra Modi-led BJP government's last full year Budget on February 1, the Sensex extended its dream run and hit fresh lifetime highs on Wednesday. Aided by a rise in information technology and banking stocks, 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 346 points to 26,323.65, a fresh 52-week high.

On the BSE, bankex helped the market gain new highs with Bank of Baroda (4.30%), Punjab National Bank (4.17%) and SBI (3.26%) rising the most on the index.

At 2:35 pm, the Sensex was trading 215 points or 0.62% higher at 34,986 level. The Nifty too rose on the bullish sentiments and reclaimed the 10,750 level.

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 SBI (2.84%), Axis Bank (2.54%) and Adani Ports (2.58%).

Wipro (1.72%), Hero MotoCorp (1.71%) and Tata  Motors (1.04%) were the top losers on Sensex.

HDFC  (Rs 113.58 crore), Tata Motors (Rs 108.18 crore) and SBI (Rs 88.14 crore) were the top stocks in terms of volume contributors on the BSE.

Market breadth was negative with 1254 stocks rising against 1565 falling on the BSE.

The HUL stock was trading 0.53% or 7 points lower at 1374 level before the announcement of its Q3 earnings later in the day.