Sensex up 200 points; oil and gas stocks rally

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets was trading 200 points or 0.80 percent up in the post-afternoon trade session Friday, a day after it closed above 25,000 point mark for the first time.

The early morning rally was led by oil and gas, bank, healthcare, realty and consumer durables sectors.

However, heavy selling pressure was observed in metal, information technology (IT), technology, entertainment and media (TECK) stocks.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,204.95 points, was trading at 25,220.68 points around 1.10 p.m. trade session, up 201.17 points or 0.80 percent from previous day's close at 25,019.51 point.

The Sensex touched a high of 25,258.98 points and a low of 25,129.76 points during the trade so far.

The rally in the market comes a day after it closed above 25,000 points mark for the first ever time.

On Thursday, the benchmark index rose 213.68 points or 0.86 percent on strong buying in metal, oil and gas and capital goods stocks.

The S&P BSE oil and gas index shot up 420.44 points, followed by bank index which was higher by 245.47 points, healthcare index gained 132.53 points, realty index rose 76.58 points and consumer durables index was surged 70.03 points.

However, metal index was down 107.87 points, IT index lost 87.48 points and TECK index declined by 34.11 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also made healthy gains. It was up 55.05 points or 0.74 percent at 7,529.15 points.