By IANS,
Mumbai : The Indian equities markets benchmark indices soared to a seven-week high Thursday on continued buying support in metals, FMCG and technology stocks.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened in the positive at 20,274.12 points settled 0.66 percent or 133.04 points higher at 20,389.07 points, the highest closing level in nearly one-and-half months.
The Sensex touched a high of 20,410.91 points and low of 20,274.12 points during the intra-day trade.
At the National Stock Exchange, the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty soared past the 6,100- point level. The Nifty closed 0.68 percent or 41.50 points higher at 6,101.85 points.
All the broader market indices also ended in the positive with the BSE midcap index rising 0.73 percent and the smallcap index up 0.43 percent.
Among the sectoral indices, the BSE realty index advanced 1.26 percent, consumer durables index 1.32 percent, auto index 0.86 percent and metal index nearly one percent.
Major Sensex gainers were NTPC, up 2 percent at Rs.201.90; Hero Honda, up 1.88 percent at Rs.1,991.90; Tata Motors, up 1.87 percent at Rs.1,296.20; Tata Power, up 1.84 percent at Rs.1,362.90 and Sterlite Inds, up 1.78 percent at Rs.188.45.
Only five of the 30 Sensex scrips closed in the red. HDFC Bank, down 1.18 percent at Rs.2,302.45; ONGC, down 0.64 percent at Rs.1,294.25; Bajaj Auto, down 0.26 percent at Rs.1,476.95; Reliance Comm, down 0.22 percent at Rs.138.20 and SBI, down 0.12 percent at Rs.2,749.50 were Sensex losers.
Other Asian markets ended mixed. The Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.13 percent at 22,999.30 points and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.29 percent to close at 2,759.57 points.
However, the Japanese Nikkei fell 1.12 percent at 10,228.90 points.
Most European markets were in the red. Around mid-day, Britain’s FTSE 100 was 0.20 percent down at 5,984.58 points.
The German DAX was down 1.05 percent and the French CAC 40 was ruling 0.74 percent down.