Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities markets advanced 57 points Thursday, led by buying support in capital goods, bank, information technology (IT), metal and public sector undertakings (PSU).
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the positive at 18,510.94 points, ended the day at 18,517.34 points, up 56.96 points or 0.31 percent from its previous day’s close 18,460.38 points.
The benchmark index touched a high of 18,567.68 points and low of 18,456.20 points intra-day. The BSE midcap index was up 21.10 points and the smallcap index was higher by 27.47 points.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 0.23 percent or 12.95 points higher at 5,627.75 points.
There was good buying support in capital goods, bank, IT, metal and PSU. Capital goods index of the BSE was up 112.32, while the bank index advanced 67.84 points, followed by IT index, up 48.10 point, metals index, up 40.82 points, and PSU index, up 38.36 points.
The major Sensex gainers were State Bank of India (SBI), 1.89 percent higher at Rs.2,099.65; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.72 percent at Rs.1,590.95; Infosys, up 1.55 percent at Rs.2,348.75; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 1.21 percent at Rs.954.30; and ITC, up 1.17 percent at Rs.288.95.
Only 14 of the 30 Sensex scrips were trading in the red.
Among the losers were Tata Motors, down 2.49 percent at Rs.258.85; ICICI Bank, down 1.03 percent at Rs.1,032.95; Sun Pharma, down 0.62 percent at Rs.695.00; Reliance Industries (RIL), down 0.52 percent at Rs.766.25; and Cipla, down 0.50 percent at Rs.387.75.
Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was up 1.56 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was higher by 1.02 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.72 percent.
All major European markets were in green with Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.59 percent, while the German DAX was higher by 0.81 percent. The French CAC 40 index was trading up by 0.34 percent.
Photo : AFP