Sensex ends 131 points up; banks, consumer goods gain

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A benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed 131 points higher Wednesday, led by buying support in banking, consumer durables and realty stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened positive at 18,379.90 points, closed at 18,460.38 points, up 0.72 per cent or 131.06 points from its previous day close at 18,329.32 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 18,478.50 points and low of 18,309.81 points in the intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also closed trading 0.78 per cent or 43.25 points higher at 5,614.80 points.

Good buying was witnessed in banking, consumer durables, FMCG and metal stocks. The bank index of the BSE was up 165.29 points, followed by consumer durables index, up 103.69 points, the FMCG index, up 80.43 points, and the metal index, up 69.07 points.

The major Sensex gainers were Cipla, 2.61 per cent higher at Rs.389.70; Sun Pharma, up 2.43 per cent at Rs.699.35; Tata Power, up 1.98 per cent at Rs.100.35; Jindal Steel, up 1.97 per cent at Rs.375.75; and ITC, up 1.96 per cent at Rs.285.60.

Only 11 of the 30 Sensex scrips were trading in the red.

Among the losers were NTPC, down 3.46 per cent at Rs.162.00; BHEL, down 2.70 per cent at Rs.222.00; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.00 per cent at Rs.1,806.30; Bharti Airtel, down 0.63 per cent at Rs.307.30; and Maruti Suzuki, down 0.52 per cent at Rs.1,491.80.

Other Asian markets too ended in green. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.87 per cent while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was higher by 1.39 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.07 per cent.

A downturn, however, prevailed among European markets where Britain's FTSE 100 was down 0.17 per cent, while the German DAX was lower by 0.04 per cent. The French CAC 40 index was trading down by 0.08 per cent.