Sensex closed 67 points up

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 67 points up Wednesday on continued foreign-investor buying in blue chip stocks.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 21,280.36 points, closed at 21,276.86 points, up 67.13 points or 0.32% from its previous day's close at 21,209.73 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 21,333.20 points and a low of 21,176.16 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade at 30.70 points or 0.49% up at 6,328.65 points.

Good buying was observed in banking index (bankex) and capital goods sectors, while selling pressure was seen in consumer durables and auto sectors.

The S&P BSE bankex increased by 183.09 points and capital goods index inched up by 118.84 points, while consumer durables index dropped by 145.52 points and auto index went down by 28.86 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: ICICI Bank, up 2.70% at Rs.1,097.15; Coal India, up 1.74% at Rs.251.50; Cipla, up 1.72% at Rs.385.25; and State Bank of India, up 1.54% at Rs.1,573.50.

The losers were: Tata Power, down 3.25% at Rs.77.45; Bharti Airtel, down 1.67% at Rs.282.80; Gail India, down 1.21% at Rs.375.35; and Reliance Industries Limited, down 0.95% at Rs.806.90.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.20% up; while China's Shanghai Composite Index was lower by 0.89% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.34%.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.45% down. Germany's DAX Index was also down 0.37% and so was the French CAC 40 Index, down 0.36%.