Reliance pulls up Sensex

The markets continued to do well, closing with gains as a major index heavy–weight made significant gains. “There is a tendency towards rangebound trade. Reliance had been underperforming and has now gone up, this has taken the index somewhat higher as well,” said Amit Khurana, Co-Head - Institutional Equities Head, Research, Mangal Keshav.

The Sensex was up 59.88 points to close with a gain of 0.37%. For the third day in a row, the index has managed to close above the 16,000 mark. The value of the index by the end of the trading session was 16183.55. Reliance Industries was up 4.54% closing at Rs. 2169.35.

European indices were in the green with the French index, CAC 40 up 0.14% and the UK’s FTSE 100 going up 0.38%. In Asia, the Nikkei of Japan was down 0.78%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 1.04%. The Shanghai Composite bucked the trend in Asia, rising by 0.54%.

The oil and gas index was the only sector to register significant gains during the day. It was up 2.36%. Bankex, Healthcare and metal were the other indices to register gains. All other indices closed with losses. The realty index was down 1.65% and TECk was down 1.09%.

On the National Stock Exchange, the Nifty was up 0.19% or 9 points. It closed at 4814.25. Hindalco went up 4.57%to close at Rs. 120.20. Reliance, PNB, Cairn and HDFC were the other gainers of the day.

There were 30 declines and 20 advances among the fifty stocks that make up the index. BPCL was down 4.40%. It closed at Rs. 562.50. DLF lost 3.48% to close at Rs. 420.40. Bharti Airtel, Jindal Steel and Hero Honda were the other laggards in the day.