By IANS,
Mumbai : A benchmark index for the Indian equities markets Thursday shot up in late trade to close 167 points higher, building on the previous session’s rally and ahead of the monetary policy update scheduled Friday.
A rally in European bourses also helped buying sentiments at Indian markets.
The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 16,837.76 points, closed at 16,876.54 points, up 166.94 points or 1 percent from its previous close at 16,709.6 points.
It rose to a high of 16,922.4 points rising after slipping to an intra-day low of 16,545.47 points.
The 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange too ended higher at 5,075.7 points, up 1.26 percent.
The Reserve Bank of India will take a call on raising interest rates when it meets Friday to review the monetary policy.
Broader markets, however, ended on a dull note. The BSE midcap index closed 0.17 percent up, the BSE smallcap index closed 0.1 percent up while the BSE 100 ended 0.15 percent higher.
Realty, IT, telecom stocks rose, while some capital goods and FMCG scrips declined.
The market breadth was positive with 1,545 stocks advancing, compared to 1,235 on the decline and 106 remaining unchanged.
According to data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), foreign institutional investors sold stocks worth $1.92 million.
Major gainers on the Sensex included Tata Motors, up 6.04 percent at Rs.151.05; DLF, up 4.02 percent at Rs.208.10; SBI, up 3.64 percent at Rs.1,898.15; TCS, up 2.26 percent at Rs.1,040.05; and Bharti Airtel, up 2.25 percent at Rs.387.10.
Prominent losers were L&T, down 1.21 percent at Rs.1,590.10; BHEL, down 1 percent at Rs.1,710.30; Hindustan Unilever, down 0.94 percent at Rs.349.30 and Maruti Suzuki, down 0.94 percent at Rs.1,083.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.76 percent up at 8,668.86 points, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index moved up 0.71 percent to close at 19,181.5 points.
Chinese markets edged lower with the Shanghai Composite index closing 0.23 percent lower at 2,479.05 points.
European bourses rose amid optimism that the Germany and France would unveil new steps to help curb the debt crisis faced by countries in the Euro zone.
Britain’s FTSE was up 1.58 percent at 5,309.81 points, the German DAX was trading 2.03 percent up at 5,448.53 points.
The French CAC 40 rose 1.99 percent to rule at 3,007.92 points.