Sensex gains more than 50 points, capital goods stocks up

On the day derivatives for May expired, a benchmark index of the Indian equities markets made healthy gains during the mid-afternoon session on Thursday.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) was trading more than 155 points up during the session.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also made gains during the mid-afternoon trade session. It rose by 35.60 points or 0.43 percent at 8,396.45 points.

The Sensex of the S&P BSE, which opened at 27,660.22 points, was trading at 27,884.77 points (at 1.45 p.m.), up 155.10 points or 0.56 percent from the previous day's close at 27,729.67 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 27,894.05 points and a low of 27,635.76 points in the intra-day trade so far.

According to analysts, the derivatives expiry assumes significance as it will present a clear picture of investors' sentiment on the long-term prospects in the futures and options (F&O) contracts.

"Currently, it seems that the money flow and long-shorts will be maintained by the investors. However, until yesterday there seemed to be a lower roll-over effect due to slow pace of economic reforms, Greece crisis and the ability of the government to pass key bills in parliament during the upcoming monsoon session," Anand James, co-technical head for research with Geojit BNP Paribas, told IANS.

During the intra-day trade on Thursday, healthy buying was observed in bank, capital goods, automobile and oil and gas sectors.

However, stocks of information technology (IT), fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), technology, entertainment and media (TECK) and consumer durables came under heavy selling pressure.

The S&P BSE bank index augmented by 180.57 points, capital goods index rose by 178.80 points, automobile index was higher by 113.32 points and oil and gas index was up 56.68 points.

However, the S&P BSE IT index receded by 56.83 points, FMCG index was lower by 38.39 points, TECK index fell by 19.08 points and consumer durables index slipped by 5.09 points.