By IANS,
Mumbai : A key Indian equities index was holding on to its morning gains and ruling 0.95 percent higher early Monday afternoon.
At 12.43 p.m., the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened higher at 16,687.32 points, was ruling at 16,800.01 points – 157.35 points or 0.95 percent higher than Friday’s close of 16,642.66 points.
Around the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), too was trading in the positive at 4,985.2 points, up 0.81 percent.
Mid-to-small capitalised company scrips were also in favour with buyers, with their representative indices like the BSE midcap index trading 1.01 percent higher and the BSE smallcap index moving up 0.99 percent.
The market breadth was positive, with 1,551 stocks advancing, 1,014 declining and 71 remaining unchanged.
Among the gainers at this time on the Sensex were: Reliance Infra, up 3.68 percent at Rs.1,399.90; TCS, up 3.15 percent at Rs.579.40; Maruti Suzuki, up 2.38 percent at Rs.1,510; and Bharti Airtel, up 2.32 percent at Rs.351.
Among losers were Hero Honda, down 1.6 percent at Rs.1,619; BHEL, down 1.48 percent at Rs.2,393.20; Tata Power, down 0.87 percent at Rs.1,291.25, and ICICI Bank, down 0.59 percent at Rs.896.
Other Asian markets were trading mixed.
The Nikkei, a key index of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, closed 183.92 points or 1.87 percent higher at 10,016.39 points.
The primary index of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Hang Seng, was ruling 210.49 points or 0.98 percent lower at 21,288.95 points.
The Kospi, benchmark index of the Korean Stock Exchange, was in the red as well at 1,639.81 points, up 6.98 points or 0.42 percent.