Sensex closes 326 points up; oil and gas stocks rally

Mumbai  :  A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Monday’s trade 1.66 percent up, as oil and gas, consumer durables, metals, bank and healthcare stocks rallied.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (S&P BSE Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,750.67 points, closed the day at 20,030.77 points, up 326.44 points or 1.66 percent from its previous day close at 19,704.33 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,083.47 points and low of 19,678.31 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also on an upward curve, closing 1.66 percent or 99.60 points up at 6,083.15 points.

The BSE oil and gas index notched up 236.31 points, while consumer durables surged 222.92 points. The bank index was up at 214.94 points, followed by the metal index, up 168.65 points, and the healthcare index, up 136.38 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers were: Reliance Industries, up 5.12 percent at Rs.828.25; Sun Pharma, up 4.66 percent at Rs.1,014.85; Jindal Steel, up 3.61 percent at Rs.305.75; Bharti Airtel, up 3.31 percent at Rs.309.15; and Hindalco Inds, up 3.17 percent at Rs.110.50.

Among the major Sensex losers were Cipla, down 1.70 percent at Rs.401.30; Mahindra and Mahindra, down 1.60 percent at Rs.951.85; and Maruti Suzuki, down 1.09 percent at Rs.1,649.05.

Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 3.22 percent percent down, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng went 0.30 percent up. China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.20 percent higher.

At closing bell here, the European markets were trading flat. Britain’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.63 percent down, while German DAX was 0.65 percent higher. The French CAC 40 had edged 0.69 percent up.

Photo : AFP