Sensex gains 282.41 points; NSE crosses 6,000-mark

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Friday surged 282 points or 1.44 percent following better-than-expected earnings by Infosys.

The rally was led by IT, technology, media and entertainment (TECK), capital goods and healthcare sectors. However, selling pressure was seen on consumer durables and public sector undertakings (PSU) sectors.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,898.69 points, closed at 19,958.47 points, up 282.41 points or 1.44 percent from the previous day's close at 19,676.06 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 19,991.94 points and a low of 19,785.59 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 1.25 percent or 73.90 points up at 6,009 points.

The S&P BSE IT index surged 414.40 points, TECK index moved up by 193.90 points, capital goods index increased by 182.17 points and healthcare index went up by 100.71 points; while consumer durables index slipped by 60.81 points and PSU index went down by 23.86 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Infosys, up 10.92 percent at Rs.2802.75; Wipro, up 3.34 percent at Rs.375.50; Tata Consultancy Services, up 2.94 percent at Rs.1606.10; Larsen and Toubro, up 2.72 percent at Rs.994.10; Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, up 2.57 percent at Rs.2349.90; and Tata Motors, up 2.31 percent at Rs.291.95.

The major losers were: Maruti Suzuki, down 3.58 percent at Rs.1452.70; ONGC, down 2.72 percent at Rs.296.30; and Mahindra & Mahindra, down 1.38 percent at Rs.905.60.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei went up by 0.23 percent; while South Korean KOSPI was down by 0.41 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped by 0.75 percent and China's Shanghai Composite Index dropped by 1.62 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.45 percent up; Germany's DAX Index was up by 0.92 percent and the French CAC 40 Index was up by 0.31 percent.