Sensex, Nifty touch record high; IT, TECK stocks surge (Roundup)

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Monday hit a record high of 26,123.55 points as IT and technology, media and entertainment (TECK) stocks surged. The index closed 138.02 points or 0.53 percent higher on the hope of a fiscally prudent budget on July 10.

Healthy buying was observed in IT, TECK, auto and healthcare sectors, while selling pressure was seen in banking and oil and gas sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 26,039.67 points, closed at 26,100.08 points, up 138.02 points or 0.53 percent from the previous day's close at 25,962.06 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,123.55 points and a low of 25,992.73 points in trade.

The S&P BSE IT index gained by 244.59 points, TECK index surged by 113.70 points, auto index increased by 110.33 points and healthcare index inched up by 94.76 points. However, bankex plunged by 215.73 points and oil and gas index dropped by 102.17 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the day's trade 35.55 points or 0.46 percent up at 7,787.15 points after hitting record high of 7,792 points during the day's trade.

The major Sensex gainers were: Tata Power, up 3.59 percent at Rs.111.05; Infosys, up 3.23 percent Rs.3,343.75; Tata Consultancy Services, up 3.06 percent at Rs.2,483.50; Tata Motors, up 2.20 percent at Rs.478.75; Dr. Reddy's Lab, up 1.95 percent at Rs.2,730.85 and Wipro, up 1.86 percent at Rs.557.70.

The losers were: HDFC Bank, down 1.90 percent at Rs.840.05; ONGC, down 1.60 percent at Rs.415.15; Gail India, down 0.88 percent at Rs.459.90 and ICICI Bank, down 0.79 percent at Rs.1,450.95.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.37 percent down and Hong Kong's Heng Seng closed 0.02 percent down, while China's Shanghai Composite Index ended 0.03 percent higher.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.34 percent down, French CAC 40 Index was down by 0.72 percent and Germany's DAX Index was trading 0.38 percent down at the closing bell here.