Sensex at two-year high on partial deregulation of diesel prices

There was healthy buying for the second consecutive day in oil and gas and public sector undertakings (PSUs), which includes all three state-owned OMCs.

The BSE Sensex, which opened at 20,038.67 points, closed at 20,039.04 points -- up 75.01 points or 0.38 percent from its previous close at 19,964.03 points.

The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 20,126.55 points and a low of 1,9990.62 points.

The midcap index was up 30.76 points, while the smallcap index was higher by 9.05 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 25.20 points or 0.42 percent up at 6,064.40 points.

Major indices like oil and gas and public sector undertakings (PSU) were the main gainers Friday, with oil and gas index being higher by 287.24 points, followed by PSU index, up 211.63 points, and power index, up 28.37 points.

The scrips of the three OMCs -- Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum rallied. Indian oil went up 10.46 percent in the day's trade at Rs.348.95, while that of Bharat Petroleum gained 9.64 percent at Rs.434.05. Hindustan Petroleum rose 4.99 percent at Rs.362.85.

Among the losers, the automobile index was down 83.28 points, while the metal index fell 65.73 points. The consumer durables index ended 45.49 points lower.