Sensex rises 182 points to one-month high

A benchmark index of Indian equities market closed Monday's trade 0.94 percent or 182 points up, the highest in almost a month.

Almost all the sectors were in green except technology, media and entertainment (TECK) and IT stocks. Those sectors, which showed upward movement were capital goods, auto, oil and gas, healthcare, banking index (bankex) and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG).

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,352.48 points, closed at 19,577.39 points, up 181.58 points or 0.94 percent from last Friday's close at 19,395.81 points.

Sensex touched a high of 19,598.43 points and a low of 19,347.57 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended 0.97 percent or 56.65 points up at 5,898.85 points.

The S&P BSE consumer durables index surged by 252.17 points, auto index moved up by 198.90 points, oil and gas increased by 138.86 points, healthcare rose by 108.41 points, bankex crawled up by 124.82 points and FMCG inched up by 136.16 points; while TECK index dipped by 16.09 points and IT index slipped by 100.23 points.

The prominent Sensex gainers were: Maruti Suzuki, up 4.37 percent at Rs.1605.25; Sterlite Industries, up 3.89 percent at Rs.86.75; Gail India, up 3.27 percent at Rs.323.25; Larsen & Toubro, up 3.26 percent at Rs.1,449.95; State Bank of India, up 3.17 percent at Rs.2,015.60; and Tata Motors, up 2.91 percent at Rs.289.65.

The losers were: Infosys, down 1.83 percent at Rs.2,447.55; Tata Consultancy Services, down 1.76 percent at Rs.1,491.70; and ONGC, down 0.55 percent at Rs.328.30.

Among the Asian markets, Nikkei was up by 1.28 percent and Hang Seng moved up 1.78 percent higher, while KOSPI was down 0.41 percent and Strait Times Index slipped 0.30 percent.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 was trading 0.79 percent up; Germany's DAX Index was up by 0.27 percent and French CAC 40 Index was up by 0.67 percent.