Mumbai, Sep 24 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets rose by 8.54 points Monday around 1.00 p.m., from heavy selling pressure on fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), information technology (IT) and healthcare stocks.
In comparison to Monday’s trade, the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) had surged 446 points on Friday afternoon on hopes of further policy reforms in the coming days.
This, after the government officially notified on Sep 20, permitting foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail. Earlier it had hiked diesel price and cut subsidies on cooking gas.
The BSE Sensex which opened Monday at 18,756.31 points, was ruling at 18,761.37 points, 8.54 points or 0.05 percent up from its previous day’s close at 18,752.83 points.
The Sensex touched a high of 18,811.13 points and a low of 18,687.60 points in intra-day trade. The BSE midcap index was up 73.39 points while the smallcap index was 87.72 points high.
The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange was also ruling 4.05 points or 0.07 percent up at 5,695.20 points.
On the sectoral front, the BSE FMCG index was down 81.50 points while IT index was down 37.95 points and healthcare index was down 28.98 points.
Major Sensex gainers were BHEL, up 16.25 points or 7.00 percent at Rs.248.55; Jindal Steel, up 22.20 points or 5.20 percent at Rs.448.80; Hindalco Inds, up 3.80 points or 3.23 percent at Rs.121.50; Tata Power, up 3.30 points or 3.21 percent at Rs.106.00; and Mahindra and Mahindra, up 24.85 points or 3.07 percent at Rs.833.00.
Major Sensex losers were Hindustan Unilever, down 16.55 points or 3.13 percent at Rs.513.00; ITC, down 6.65 points or 2.54 percent at Rs.255.00; HDFC, down 17.85 points or 2.29 percent at Rs.761.30; Cipla, down 5.35 points or 1.48 percent at Rs.356.00; and TCS, down 18.60 points or 1.43 percent at Rs.1,284.70.
Among other Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei was down 0.45 percent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was trading 0.22 percent down. However, Shanghai’s composite index was up 0.32 percent.
