Sensex gains 123 points; healthcare stocks up

After three days of consecutive falls, a benchmark index of the Indian equities markets, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex), on Friday gained 123 points or 0.46 percent during the afternoon trade session on Friday.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also made gains during the session under review. It was trading 11.35 points or 0.14 percent up at 8,142 points.

The Sensex of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,819.82 points, was trading at 26,936.77 points (at 12.30 p.m.), up 123.35 points or 0.46 percent from the previous day's close at 26,813.42 points.

The Sensex has touched a high of 26,991.82 points and a low of 26,718.44 points in the trade so far.

According to Angel Broking, Indian markets opened in the positive zone tracking the SGX Nifty.

The firm said the Indian markets fell marginally on Thursday as investors for the third day running remained nervous over the growing fears that a drought this year would weigh on growth and spur inflation.

During Friday's trade, healthy buying was observed in healthcare, capital goods, metals, consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors.

However, heavy selling was observed in stocks like automobile, information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK).

The S&P BSE healthcare index augmented by 186.36 points, capital goods index gained by 160.65 points, metal index was higher by 160.55 points, consumer durables index increased by 121.09 points and FMCG index was up by 53.27 points.

However, the S&P BSE automobile index declined by 77.49 points, followed by IT index which went lower by 43.75 points and TECK index which fell by 15.89 points.