Sensex zooms 361 points; auto stocks surge

Mumbai, Aug 12 :

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Tuesday closed 361.53 points or 1.42 percent up as auto stocks surged.

This was the biggest daily gain since June 6. Almost all the sectors ended in the green, except technology, media and entertainment (TECK) stocks.

Good buying was observed in auto, banking, capital goods, oil and gas, consumer durables, metals and healthcare sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,703.78 points, closed at 25,880.77 points, up 361.53 points or 1.42 percent from the previous day’s close at 25,519.24 points.

The Sensex has touched a high of 25,904.98 points and a low of 25,645.79 points in the trade.

The S&P BSE auto index surged 285.99 points, bankex gained by 240.43 points, capital goods index got augmented by 180.18 points, oil and gas index moved up by 175.70 points, consumer durables index increased by 119.48 points, metal index inched up by 114.96 points and healthcare index went up by 156.74 points.

However, TECK index dropped by 2.66 points. The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed trading 101.10 points or 1.33 percent up at 7,727.05 points.

“Tracking the global cues, the Indian markets today witnessed a gap up opening. Also the strong earnings from the Tata Motors which beat the street expectations and the gains in auto, capital goods and oil & gas also spurt up the consumer confidence,” said Alex Mathews, head research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.

Dipen Shah, head-Private Client Group Research, Kotak Securities said: “Markets rose for the second successive day on buying in select heavyweights. Supportive global markets and reduced geo-political concerns helped support the markets. Better-than-expected numbers from companies like Tata Motors supported the sentiment.”

“Going ahead, we expect geo-political issues on the global front and further reform initiatives from the Government on the domestic front, to drive markets. Remaining quarterly results and the progress of monsoons can be the near-term triggers,” he added.

The major Sensex gainers were: Gail India, up 6.02 percent at Rs.413.65; Tata Motors, up 5.92 percent at Rs.473.90; HDFC, up 5.39 percent at Rs.1,115.75; ONGC, up 3.21 percent at Rs.405.50 and Sun Pharma, up 2.69 percent at Rs.783.90.

The losers were: Bharti Airtel, down 1.67 percent at Rs.369.90; Hero MotoCorp, down 0.30 percent at Rs.2,598.40 and ITC, down 0.14 percent at Rs.347.

Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei went up by 0.20 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.18 percent points higher, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index, dipped by 0.14 percent.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 was down by 0.16 percent, Germany’s DAX Index fell by 0.76 percent and France’s CAC 40 slipped by 0.52 percent.

(IANS)