Sensex at 14-month high, surging 404 points on reforms hopes

Mumbai  :  A benchmark index of Indian equities markets zoomed 404 points to close in a 14-month high Friday on hopes of more policy reforms in the coming days.

Power, capital goods and metal stocks were the best performers.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,411.20 points, closed 18,752.83 points, 403.58 points or 2.20 percent up from its previous day’s close at 18,349.25 points.

The Sensex earlier in the day had surged 464 points and touched a high of 18,866.87 and had fallen to a low of 18,411.20 points in intra-day trade.

The BSE midcap index was up 102.15 points while the smallcap index was 98.24 points high.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 2.46 percent at Rs.5,691.15.

On the sectoral front, the BSE power index was up 82.98 points while capital goods index was up 424.65 points and metal index was up 416.76 points.

The major Sensex gainers were BHEL, up 7.12 percent at Rs.232.30; Jindal Steel, up 6.41 percent at Rs.426.60; Sterlite Inds, up 5.20 percent at Rs.104.20; SBI, up 4.30 percent at Rs.2,212.60; and ICICI Bank, up 4.19 percent at Rs.1,065.25.

There were only four Sensex losers — Dr Reddys Lab, down 1.38 percent at Rs.1,643.55; TCS, down 1.38 percent at Rs.1,303.30; Infosys, down 0.80 percent at Rs.2,594.65; and Sun Pharma, down 0.10 percent at Rs.669.30.

Other Asian markets closed in green. Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.25 percent up, while Shanghai’s composite index closed 0.09 percent higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 0.70 percent up.

European markets were trading mixed. France’s CAC was up 0.45 percent and so was Germany’s DAX, up 0.87 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.09 percent lower.

Photo : AFP