By IANS,
Mumbai : A benchmark index for Indian equities crossed the 20,500-point mark, the highest in 33 months, in afternoon trade Monday on the back of continued buying support from foreign institutional investors.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) advanced over 100 points to 20,545 points. The index had earlier surged to 20,706.74 points in the intra-day trade but pared some the gains on profit booking.
The benchmark Sensex is approaching its record closing high of 20,873 reached Jan 8, 2008.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was trading 0.49 percent higher at 6,173.
The major gainers on the Sensex were Reliance Communications, up 3 percent at 173.30; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 2.98 percent at 7,34.73, ICICI Bank, up 2.41 percent at 1,162, BHEL, up 2.20 percent at 2,647 and Jaiprakash Asso, up 2.02 percent at 126.50.
Major losers include Sterlite Inds, down 1.77 percent at 172.25, L&T, down 1.18 percent at 2,074 and Bharti Airtel, down 0.94 percent at 361.70.