Sensex closes 33 points higher on strong global cues

Mumbai : A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 33 points higher Thursday on strong global cues. IT, auto and health care stocks were among the best performers.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,320.73 points, closed 17,346.27 points, 0.19 percent or 32.93 points up from its previous day’s close at 17,313.34 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 17,418.40 points and a low of 17,294.74 points in intra-day trade.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.24 percent up at 5,238.10 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE IT index was up 145.97 points, auto index was up 67.38 points and the health care index was up 43.57 points.

Wipro was the biggest gainer and closed 4.43 percent higher at Rs.377.50.

The other major gainers were Infosys, up 3.58 percent at Rs.2,422.20; Jindal Steel, up 1.98 percent at Rs.342.65; Tata Motors, up 1.90 percent at Rs.233.05; and ICICI Bank, up 1.86 percent at Rs.895.90.

The main Sensex losers were BHEL, down 3.20 percent at Rs.201.35; ITC, down 2.69 percent at Rs.260.80; Bharti Airtel, down 2.09 percent at Rs.252.45; Hindustan Unilever, down 0.98 percent at Rs.525.70; and HDFC Bank, down 0.91 percent at Rs.586.60.

Other Asian markets closed in green. Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.01 percent down while Shanghai’s composite index ended 0.70 percent higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.34 percent up.

At closing bell here, European markets were up as well. France’s CAC was up 1.06 percent while Germany’s DAX was up by 1.27 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.59 percent higher.