Bolstered by India's Economic Survey 2017-18 that pegged the country's growth at 7-7.5 per cent in the next fiscal, the key Indian equity indices on Monday surged to new highs on the back of healthy buying in auto, IT and consumer durables stocks.According to market observers, positive global cues, coupled with the expectation of sops from the Union Budget 2018-19, lifted investors' risk-taking appetite.The wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) touched a record high of 11,171.55 points during intra-day trade.The NSE Nifty50 closed higher by 60.75 points or 0.55 per cent at a new level of 11,130.40 points.On the BSE, the barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) closed at a fresh high of 36,283.25 points -- up 232.81 points or 0.65 per cent -- from its previous close.The Sensex scaled a record intra-day level of 36,443.98 points.However, the BSE market breadth turned bearish as 1,898 stocks declined against 955 advances.
"Markets ended with modest gains on Monday as it surged to yet another record high. The gains came on the back of the Economic Survey tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament today (Monday), which predicted real GDP growth to rise to 7-7.5 per cent in the next financial year," Deepak Jasani, Head, Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told IANS."Broad market indices like the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices however fell, thereby underperforming the main indices," said Jasani.In the broader markets, the S&P BSE mid-cap index closed lower by 0.73 per cent and the small-cap index by 1.10 per cent.Provisional data with the exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors purchased scrips worth Rs 291.86 crore and domestic institutional investors worth Rs 90.08 crore.The Indian rupee weakened by three paise to close at 63.58 against the US dollar from its previous close at 63.55.
Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services, said: "Benchmark indices continued its up-move supported by positive global cues and strong liquidity. Market cheered the GDP growth estimates of 7-7.5 per cent for 2018-19 released by the Indian Economic Survey.""Currently market is expecting a good budget with focus on fiscal prudence and reducing rural distress. Additionally, good Q3 results from index heavy weights took market to new high. But premium valuation investors were cautious on the mid and small-cap stocks," Nair added.Sectorwise, the S&P BSE auto index surged by 410.95 points, IT index by 146.72 points and consumer durables index by 136.75 points.On the other hand, the S&P BSE oil and gas index declined by 137.87 points, healthcare index by 137.63 points and FMCG index by 52.82 points.Major Sensex gainers on Monday were: Maruti Suzuki, up 3.85 per cent at Rs 9,634.50; HDFC, up 2.66 per cent at Rs 1,953.25; Tata Consultancy Services, up 2.48 per cent at Rs 3,195.10; Kotak Bank, up 2.02 per cent at Rs 1,113.50; and Hero MotoCorp, up 1.97 per cent at Rs 3,640.Major Sensex losers were: Dr Reddy's Lab, down 5.92 per cent at Rs 2,355.75; Bharti Airtel, down 2.66 per cent at Rs 440.55; ITC, down 1.85 per cent at Rs 275.65; Yes Bank, down 1.64 per cent at Rs 357.55; and ONGC, down 1.58 per cent at Rs 204.95.