Domestic stock markets started the week on a positive note tracking strength in Asian peers.
The Sensex gained as much as 162.03 points to 36,033.51 in early trade, while the Nifty moved up 38.45 points to touch 10,830.10.
The BSE benchmark index crossed the 36,000 mark in intraday trade for the first time since February 15.Gains in financial, auto and IT stocks pushed the markets higher, however losses in energy shares limited the upside.
Analysts awaited key macroeconomic data due later this week.At 9:24 am, the Sensex traded 136.59 points higher at 36,008.07, and the Nifty stood at 10,817.35, up 25.70 points from the previous close.Top advancers on the Nifty were JSW Steel, Tata Motors, UltraTech Cement, Vedanta and Tata Steel, trading between 1.02 per cent and 2.19 per cent higher.
Thirty two stocks on the index were trading with gains, as against eighteen that moved lower.The government is due to release economic growth data for the quarter ended December on Thursday.The domestic markets took positive cues from other Asian markets, where equitiesscaled a 5-month peak after US President Donald Trump confirmed he would delay a planned increase on Chinese imports as talks between the two sides were making "substantial progress".MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.5 per cent to the highest since October, and was up 10 per cent for the year so far.Japan's Nikkei climbed 0.6 per cent to levels last seen in mid-December.(With agency inputs)