Sensex closed flat; oil and gas, metals stocks gain

Mumbai, May 5 :

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 41 points or 0.18 percent up Monday as metal and oil and gas scrips fared well.

Good buying was observed in metal, capital goods and oil and gas sectors, while selling pressure was seen in IT, healthcare and technology, media and entertainment (TECK) sectors.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 22,412.80 points, closed at 22,445.12 points, up 41.23 points or 0.18 percent from its previous day close at 22,403.89 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 22,592.03 points and a low of 22,354.45 points intra-day.

The S&P BSE metail index gained 118.81 points, oil and gas index moved up by 145.73 points and capital goods index increased by 108.43 points. However, IT index dropped by 85.02 points, healthcare index slipped by 78.70 points and TECK index went down by 57.20 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade at 4.55 points or 0.07 percent up at 6,699.35 points.

Major Sensex gainers were: Hindalco Industries, up 4.80 percent at Rs.138.60; ONGC, up 1.93 percent at Rs.335.45; Reliance Industries Ltd, up 1.82 percent at Rs.945.20; and Tata Steel, up 1.68 percent at Rs.397.30.

Major Sensex losers were: HDFC, down 2.30 percent at Rs.887.20; Cipla, down 2.14 percent at Rs.392.90; Tata Power, down 1.56 percent at Rs.78.70; and Bharti Airtel, down 1.41 percent at Rs.321.10.

Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.19 percent down and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down by 1.28 percent while China’s Shanghai Composite Index was up by 0.05 percent.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was trading 0.20 percent up, while Germany’s DAX Index was down by 1.37 percent and the French CAC 40 Index was down by 1.10 percent.

(IANS)