Sensex, Nifty rebound, end in green

Mumbai, April 28: Rebounding from three-and-half months’ low, a benchmark index for Indian equities, the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange, closed 219.39 points, or 0.81 percent, up on Tuesday as blue-chip stocks surged. The 30-share Sensex, which opened at 27,215.61 points, closed at 27,396.38 points, up 219.39 points, or 0.81 percent, over the previous day’s close at 27,176.99 points. It touched a high of 27,482.14 points and a low of 27,073.25 points in the day’s trade. The wider Nifty of the tiol Stock Exchange also closed 71.80 points or 0.87 percent higher.

In Tuesday’s trade, heavy selling pressure was seen in banking, auto, power and healthcare sectors, while selling pressure was seen in fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

Foreign funds remained net sellers to the tune of $261.35 million on Tuesday. Among the 12 sector-specific indices of the Mumbai bourse, that for bankex gained 2.41 percent, auto index moved up by 2.24 percent, realty index inched up by 1.60 percent, power index went up by 1.40 percent and healthcare index got augmented by 0.69 percent. However, FMCG index fell by 0.73 percent.

The 100-scrip and 200-scrip indices were up with a relatively higher margin of 0.93 percent and 1 percent, respectively, while mid-cap index was higher by around 1.49 percent. Small-cap stocks ended 1.37 percent higher. The major Sensex gainers on Tuesday were: ICICI Bank, up 8.02 percent at Rs.326.65; Maruti, up 4.93 percent at Rs.3,826.65; BHEL, up 2.76 percent at Rs.233.05; and Tata Motors, up 2.43 percent at Rs.529.85. The losers were: ITC, down 1.92 percent at Rs.337.50; Coal India, down 1.32 percent at Rs.372.70; Infosys, down 1.24 percent at Rs.1,961.35; and Reliance Industries Ltd., down 1.09 percent at Rs.865.

Among the Asian markets, Japan’s Nikkei went up by 0.38 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng moved up by 0.03 percent, while Chi’s Shanghai Composite Index went down by 1.13 percent.

In Europe, London’s FTSE 100 fell by 1.08 percent, France’s CAC 40 went down by 1.71 percent and Germany’s DAX Index was lower by 1.35 percent at the closing in the Indian markets. (IANS)