Sensex rebounds, gains 115 points as rupee recovers

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed Tuesday 0.59 percent or 115 points up as the rupee recovered after touching a record low of 61.21 against the US dollar a day before.

The rupee traded at 60.36 against a dollar Tuesday late afternoon after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed restrictions on speculative trading in currency by banks.

All the sectors traded in green, led by consumer durables, banking index (bankex), healthcare and capital goods.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,399.37 points, closed at 19,439.48 points, up 114.71 points or 0.59 percent from the previous day's close at 19,324.77 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 19,486 points and a low of 19,380.25 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 0.82 percent or 47.45 points up at 5,859 points.

The S&P BSE consumer durables index gained 118.86 points, bankex went up by 162.88 points, healthcare index moved up by 130.48 points and capital goods index rose by 134.34 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Sun Pharma, up 3.57 percent at Rs.1079.95; Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), up 2.22 percent at Rs.186.70; Bajaj Auto, up 2.09 percent at Rs.1895; Sterlite Industries, up 1.88 percent at Rs.84.20; Dr Reddy's Laboratories, up 1.82 percent at Rs.2288.40; and Larsen & Toubro, up 1.70 percent at Rs.1427.65.

The major losers were: Jindal Steel, down 1.90 percent at Rs.217.10; Mahindra & Mahindra, down 1.18 percent at Rs.936.50; ONGC, down 0.79 percent Rs.302.05; and Hindustan Unilever, down 0.76 percent at Rs.604.85.

Among the Asian markets, Nikkei went up by 2.58 percent; Hang Seng was up by 0.49 percent, Shanghai Composite Index moved up by 0.37 percent and KOSPI was up by 0.74 percent.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 was trading 0.85 percent up; Germany's DAX Index was up by 0.76 percent and French CAC 40 Index was up by 0.49 percent.