D-St gives thumbs up to GST rollout; Sensex above 31,000-mark, Nifty recaptures 9,600-level

New Delhi: The market hit a bright spot straightaway on Monday as the Sensex moved beyond 31,000-level, extending its weekend gains following the GST kick-off.

After a strong opening, the BSE 30-share index hit a high of 31,258.33, before closing 300.01 points,or 0.97 percent higher at 31,221.62, a level last seen on June 22.

The gauge had gained 87.29 points in the previous two sessions. The 50-share Nifty after scaling the day's high of 9,624, ended up 94.10, or 0.99 percent, at 9,615.

Cigarette maker ITC was the top gainer among Sensex stocks, rising 5.70 percent to end at a 52-week high. This is mostly because taxation for cigarettes under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) is around 5-6 percent lower than the previous tax structure. It also drove the Nifty index higher.

Other cigarette stocks VST Industries and Godfrey Phillips too rose 3.97 percent and 1.93 percent, respectively.

Investors remained optimistic of the GST rollout on July 1 as they felt that the sweeping tax reform will give huge momentum to the country's economy and tempt global businesses to invest here, traders said.

With Agency Inputs