Mumbai, Oct 21 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities Thursday moved 313 points higher in afternoon trade, going well past the 20,000-mark.
The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,951.34 points, was ruling at 20,185.2 points, up 313.05 points or 1.57 percent, from its previous close at 19,872.15 points.
At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was trading at 6,074.3 points, up 1.54 percent.
Broader markets were doing much better. The BSE midcap index was ruling 1.17 percent higher, while the BSE smallcap index moved 1.1 percent up.
FMCG, energy and IT scrips were among the major gainers at this time.
Among the gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, ITC, Cipla, Hindustan Unilever and RIL.
The major loser was ACC, while Infosys was trading flat.
Other Asian markets fell after China’s economic growth slowed to 9.6 percent in the third quarter and inflation rose at its fastest rate to 3.6 percent in almost two years. China this week hiked benchmark interest rates by a quarter-percentage point.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was ruling 0.31 percent lower at 23,630.55 points, while the Japanese Nikkei closed flat at 9,376.48 points.
The Shanghai Composite index was trading at 2,983.53, down 0.68 percent.
