Sensex gains for third straight day

Rising for the third consecutive session, a benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 40.08 points up Tuesday. It touched the the highest closing level of 20,890.82 in nearly two weeks.

Good buying was observed in capital goods and banking index (bankex) sectors while selling pressure was seen in consumer durables and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sectors.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,870.16 points, closed at 20,890.82 points, up 40.08 points or 0.19 percent from its previous day close at 20,850.74 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 20,934.40 points and a low of 20,828.69 points intra-day.

The S&P BSE capital goods index gained 117.12 points and bankex inched up by 44.06 points. However, consumer durables index dropped by 39.85 points and FMCG index slipped by 29.86 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade 14.35 points or 0.23 percent up at 6,203.35 points.

Major Sensex gainers were: Jindal Steel, up 4.37 percent at Rs.255.45; Hindalco Industries, up 4.25 percent at Rs.124; Maruti Suzuki, up 3.28 percent at Rs.1,682.95 and State Bank of India, up 3.18 percent at Rs.1,823.30.

The main losers were: SSTL, down 1.88 percent at Rs.184.90; HDFC Bank, down 1.29 percent at Rs.659.95 and Coal India, down 1.20 percent at Rs.267.70.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.25 percent down; China's Shanghai Composite Index was down by 0.19 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.01 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.57 percent down, Germany's DAX Index was down by 0.47 percent and the French CAC 40 Index was down by 1.05 percent.