By IANS,
Mumbai : Helped by a late surge in buying, a benchmark index for Indian equities Thursday closed 107 points higher than its previous close.
The rally came as it was the closing of the March series of futures and options contracts.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 17,458.51 points, closed at 17,558.85 points, 107.83 points or 0.62 percent higher than its previous close at 17,451.02 points.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was ruling at 5,260.4 points, a gain of 0.67 percent or 35.1 points from its previous close.
Broader markets, however, closed flat, with the BSE midcap index ending a meagre 0.12 percent up and the BSE smallcap index closing 0.21 percent down.
Capital goods, healthcare, and banking stocks saw buying interest, while PSU and consumer durables scrips came under selling pressure.
The market breadth was negative, with 1,316 stocks advancing, compared to 1,530 on the decline, while 75 remained unchanged.
Among the gainers on the 30-scrip Sensex were Hero Honda, up 4.39 percent at Rs.2,022.55; Hindalco, up 3.79 percent at Rs.176.85; Sun Pharma, up 2.82 percent at Rs.1,739.65; and Bharti Airtel, up 2.27 percent at Rs.313.75.
The Bharti scrip, which opened at Rs.310, rose 3.22 percent to touch an intra-day high of Rs.316.70 after Kuwait’s Zain Telecom confirmed that its board of directors has approved the offer from Bharti Airtel to acquire its African assets, other than those in Morocco and Sudan.
Top losers included ACC, down 2.44 percent at Rs.933.70; Tata Motors, down 1.87 percent at Rs.725.25; Maruti Suzuki, down 1.47 percent at Rs.1,372.05; and HDFC, down 1.35 percent at Rs.2,585.
In other Asian markets, most benchmark indices ended trade dull.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.1 percent at 20,778.55 points, while the Chinese Shanghai composite index closed 1.23 percent lower at 3,019.18 points.
The South Korean Kospi ended trade with modest gains, up 0.44 percent, at 1,688.39 points, while the Japanese Nikkei shut shop 0.13 percent in the green at 10,828.85 points.
European markets were, however, ruling in the green.
The FTSE 100, the benchmark index of the London Stock Exchange, was ruling at 5,702.09 points, up 0.43 percent, while its German peer, DAX, was trading 0.73 percent higher at 6,083.36 points.
The French CAC 40 index was in the green, up 0.64 percent at 3,975.06 points.