Sensex closes marginally high, healthcare stocks gain (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Thursday's trade with a marginal 38 point gain amidst the expiry of September derivatives and the rupee gaining strength against the dollar.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,853.66 points, closed at 19,893.85 points, up 37.61 points or 0.19 percent from its previous day's close at 19,856.24 points.

The Sensex surged to a high of 19,997.28 points and a low of 19,826.99 points in the day's trade.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also gained mere 5.75 points or 0.10 percent at 5,879.60 points.

The partially convertible Indian rupee closed Thursday at 62.07 per dollar from its previous close of 62.44.

Sector-wise, healthcare, capital goods, metal, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and power stocks gained. However, oil and gas, consumer durables, information technology (IT), technology, entertainment and media (TECk) and realty company's scrip tanked.

The S&P BSE healthcare index gained 79.34 points, capital goods index was up 50.15 points, followed by metal index which was higher by 47.99 points, FMCG index was up 38.38 points and power index increased by 12.70 points.

Selling pressure was observed in oil and gas index, which lost 96.49 points, while consumer durables index decreased by 58.79 points, followed by IT index which was down 20.50 points, TECk index which was down 9.83 points and realty index closed the day's trade 7.48 points lower.

The prominent Sensex gainers were: BHEL, up 6.33 percent at Rs.150.40; Coal India, up 2.91 percent at Rs.303.65; Tata Steel, up 2.87 percent at Rs.299.50; Sun Pharma, up 2.23 percent at Rs.581.30 and HDFC, up 1.65 percent at Rs.792.75.

The losers were: Jindal Steel, down 3.73 percent at Rs.235.90; Gail India, down 2.18 percent at Rs.327.35; Reliance Industries, down 1.20 percent at Rs.838.55; Hero MotoCorp, down 0.98 percent at Rs.2,015.20 and ONGC, down 0.95 percent at Rs.276.80.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.22 percent up, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.36 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index was lower by 1.94 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.14 percent up and Germany's DAX Index was lower by 0.03 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index was down by 0.06 percent.