Sensex ends in green, bank and auto scrips rally (Intro Roundup, correcting para 5)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Monday gained 97 points after Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented the interim budget for 2014-15 in the Lok Sabha.

Good buying was observed in bank, automobile and healthcare stocks. However, metal, consumer durables and oil and gas scrips declined.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,438.87 points, closed the Monday's trade at 20,464.06 points, up 97.24 points or 0.48 percent from the previous day's close at 20,366.82 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,492.43 points and a low of 20,338.95 points during the trade so far.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 24.95 points or 0.41 percent up at 6,073.30 points.

The S&P BSE bank index was up 140.59 points, followed by automobile index which closed the day's trade higher by 90.99 points, and the healthcare index up 68.29 points.

The bank stocks rallied as the finance minister announced infusion of Rs.11,200 crore in public sector banks in the financial year 2014-15. Chidambaram also cut excise duty on many products of the automobile sector.

However, the S&P BSE metal index was down 64.21 points, consumer durables index was lower by 41.65 points and oil and gas index slipped by 41.08 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers were Tata Power up 4.81 percent at Rs.77.40; Mahindra and Mahindra, up 2.83 percent at Rs.928.15; Dr Reddy's Lab, up 2.31 percent at Rs.2,639.50; ICICI Bank, up 2.13 percent at Rs.1,009.45; and Hero MotoCorp, up 1.99 percent at Rs.1,975.25.

The major losers included Coal India, down 1.59 percent at Rs.256.40; Hindalco Inds, down 1.35 percent at Rs.98.65; Reliance Industries (RIL), down 1.22 percent at Rs.811.45; Wipro, down 0.56 percent at Rs.560.85; and BHEL, down 0.54 percent at Rs.147.60.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.56 percent up, and Hong Kong's Hang gained 1.07 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index gained by 0.92 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 1.08 percent up. Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.15 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index was marginally up 0.02 percent.