Sensex closes 95 points up, IT realty stocks high

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 95 points higher Tuesday as IT, realty and power stocks went up.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,711.80 points, closed at 17,861.69 points (provisional), 94.91 points or 0.53 percent up from its previous day’s close at 17,766.78 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,865.39 and a low of 17,677.38 points in intra-day trade. The BSE midcap index was up 17.32 points, while the smallcap index was 35.82 points high.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.52 percent up at 5,391.10 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE IT index was up 56.08 points, the realty index was up by 13.26 points, and the power index, up 15.34 points.

Top Sensex gainers were HDFC, up 2.26 percent at Rs.756.40; NTPC, up 1.72 percent at Rs.174.55; BHEL, up 1.44 percent at Rs.201; ICICI Bank, up 1.42 percent at Rs.947.50; and Gail India, up 1.39 percent at Rs.371.90.

The main losers included Sterlite Inds, down 4.32 percent at Rs.94.05; Jindal Steel, down 3.08 percent at Rs.334; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.02 percent at Rs.1,802; Tata Steel, down 0.76 percent at Rs.377; and Larsen and Toubro down 0.46 percent at Rs.1,369.50.