Sensex trades flat, oil and gas stocks rally

Mumbai  :  A benchmark index for Indian equities markets was trading flat in Thursday’s afternoon session. Oil and gas, information technology and metal stocks gain.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,771.03 points, was ruling at 19,766.32 points around 12 p.m. — up by 52.08 points or 0.26 percent from its previous close at 19,714.24 points.

The sober sentiment in the market comes after bullish buying trend at the Indian equities markets took place on Wednesday as the benchmak index surged 133 points after US lawmakers cleared the deal on the “fiscal cliff”.

The BSE Sensex Thursday touched an intra-day high of 19,786.30 points and a low of 19,693.29 points. The BSE midcap index was up 62.72 points, while the smallcap index was higher by 65.86 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange again soared past the psychological resistance level of the 6,000-points mark. Nifty had crossed 6,000 points mark in Wednesday’s intra-day trade. On Thursday it was up 12.30 points or 0.21 percent at 6,005.55 points.

In the Sensex sectoral indices, oil and gas index was up 63.69 points. The information technology (IT) index was up 46.23 points.

However, the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) index decreased by 14.52 points. The capital goods index down 9.07 points and consumer durables index was lower by 4.98 points.

Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was lower by 0.08 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.61 percent.

Photo  : AFP