Mumbai July 23 (IANS) Healthy buying in banking FMCG and consumer durable stocks lifted the key Indian equity indices on Monday with the BSE Sensex setting a fresh benchmark of 36 749.69 points by the fag end of the day s trade.
Investor sentiments were boosted after Goods and Services Tax on many items including electronic appliances were slashed on Saturday analysts said.
Index-wise the BSE Sensex closed at 36 718.60 points -- higher by 222.23 points and 0.61 per cent -- from the previous close of 36 496.37 points.
The wider Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed the day s trade at 11 084.75 points up 74.55 points or 0.68 per cent from the previous close of 11 010.20 points.
As mentioned the Sensex touched an all-time high of 36 749.69 points and an intra-day low of 36 491.83 points. The previous record high on Sensex was 36 747.87 hit on July 18.
In the broader markets the S&P BSE mid-cap closed 1.29 per cent higher while the S&P BSE small-cap rose by 0.93 per cent from its previous close. The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1 511 advances against 1 089 declines.
"The gains came on the back of the government s announcement on reduction in goods and services tax (GST) rate on 88 goods and services over the weekend " said Deepak Jasani Head Retail Research HDFC Securities.
Further according to Abhijeet Dey Senior Fund Manager for Equities at BNP Paribas Mutual Fund stock market in India started the week on an upbeat note as sentiments were boosted by the government winning the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Friday July 20.
On the currency front the rupee closed at 68.86 depreciating by just one paisa from the previous close of 68.85 per dollar.
Investment-wise provisional data with exchanges showed that foreign institutional investors bought scrip worth Rs 259.37 crore and the domestic institutional investors purchased stocks worth Rs 124.82.
Sector-wise the S&P BSE banking index gained the most by 291.31 points followed by the consumer durables index up 259.97 points and the FMCG rose by 259.95 points.
On the contrary the S&P BSE energy index was the only loser with a decline of 16.54 points from its previous close.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Vedanta up 4.42 per cent at Rs 211.55; Adani Ports up 3.83 per cent at Rs 384.05; ITC up 3.80 per cent at Rs 283.85; Bharti Airtel up 3.49 per cent at Rs 357.60; and ICICI Bank up 3.33 per cent at Rs 274.85 per share.
The top losers were Hero MotoCorp down 6.20 per cent at Rs 3 163.90; Bajaj Auto down 5.35 per cent at Rs 2 689.10; Wipro down 2.47 per cent at Rs 276.05; HDFC Bank down 1.48 per cent at Rs 2 157.75; and ONGC down 0.86 per cent at Rs 156.50 per share.

--IANS rrb/qd/sed