Sensex makes gains; capital goods stocks gain

A benchmark index of the Indian equities markets closed Wednesday's trade 85 points up as capital goods and banks stocks gained.

Market sentiment was bullish on global positive cues such as upbeat trade data from China and a US House deal extending the federal borrowing authority.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 20,449.83 points, ended the day at 20,448.49 points - up 85.12 points or 0.42 percent from its previous day's close at 20,363.37 points.

The Sensex hit a high of 20,516.60 points and low of 20,427.23 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 21.30 points or 0.35 percent higher at 6,084 points.

Among the sectoral indices of the BSE, capital goods, bank and oil and gas increased, while metal, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) and healthcare scrip ended in the negative territory.

The BSE capital goods index was up 142.58 points, while the bank index gained 111.43 points and oil and gas index increased by 105.97 points.

However, the metal index was down 123.51 points, followed by FMCG index, which lost 55.02 points, and healthcare index, that declined 28.43 points.

Prominent Sensex gainers were - ICICI Bank up 3.11 percent at Rs.999.25; Gail India, up 2.57 percent at Rs.356.70; ONGC, up 2.50 percent at Rs.282.70; Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 1.72 percent at Rs.1,008.75; and BHEL, up 1.48 percent at Rs.157.25.

Major Sensex scrips which closed in the red included Tata Steel, down 4.05 percent at Rs.374.35; Maruti Suzuki, down 1.67 percent at Rs.1,647.50; Dr Reddy's Lab, down 1.62 percent at Rs.2,615.95; ITC, down 1.46 percent at Rs.320.30; and NTPC, down 1.21 percent at Rs.131.10.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.56 percent up, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.47 percent. China's Shanghai Composite Index gained by 0.30 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.06 percent up. Germany's DAX Index was higher by 0.67 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index was up 0.34 percent.