Mumbai, Aug 24 (IANS): The Indian stock market rose on Monday on the back of healthy buying in banking and finance stocks.

The S&P BSE Banking index rose by 2.45 per cent and the Finance index was up 2 per cent.

The BSE Sensex closed at 38,799.08, higher by 364.36 points or 0.95 per cent from the previous close of 38,434.72.

It had opened at 38,566.96 and touched an intra-day high of 38,894.94 and low of 38,545.76 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 11,466.45, higher by 94.85 points or 0.83 per cent from the previous close.

Manish Hathiramani, technical analyst with Deen Dayal Investments, said: "Nifty almost touched the 11,500-level today. We should be able to revisit that price point and possibly higher towards 11,700. Any dip can be utilised as a buying opportunity and 11,300 is now a strong support for the Nifty."

The major gainers on the Sensex were Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank, and Bajaj Finance whereas the major losers were Power Grid, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Tech Mahindra.