By IANS
Mumbai : Indian shares closed firm Wednesday on account of large-scale buying in heavyweight shares, leading a major index to gain 1.8 percent.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) rose 259.55 points or 1.8 percent to close at 14,248.66 points after it moved in a broad range during intra-day trading.
Twenty of the 30 shares that form the Sensex basket ended in positive territory.
Similarly, the broader 50-share National Stock Exchange (NSE) index, Nifty, ended firm at 4,153.15 levels, up 78.25 points or 1.92 percent, after touching a day’s low of 4,040 points.
“The current recovery may be temporary as the prevailing uncertain political situation may play spoilsport,” said an analyst.
Leading the surge were Bharat Heavy Electricals, up 4.81 percent at Rs.1,666.95, Reliance Energy, up 4.74 percent at Rs.724.80, and Tata Steel, up 4.25 percent at Rs.569.30.
Hospitality and tobacco major ITC, top private sector telecom service provider Bharti Airtel, engineering and construction firm Larsen and Toubro, cement major Ambuja Cements, and multi-utility vehicle maker Mahindra and Mahindra also ended higher.
Tata Motors, on the other hand, led the losers, down 2.42 percent at Rs.618.95, followed by drug major Cipla, down 0.93 percent at Rs.175.55, and India’s top lender state-run State Bank of India, down 0.40 percent at Rs. 1,457.95.
Top carmaker Maruti Udyog and mortgage and housing finance firm Housing Development Finance Corp also took a beating.