Thaindian News

Mumbai, Sep 14 (IANS) A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 443 points higher Friday following a worldwide rally after the US Federal Reserve announced a new stimulus plan to revive growth in the world’s largest economy.

The government’s decision to hike the diesel price and limit the distribution of subsidised cooking gas also helped stocks move up. Realty, metal and banking were the best performers.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,284.75 points, closed at 18,464.27 points, 443.11 points or 2.46 percent up from its previous day’s close at 18,021.16 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 18,498.54 and a low of 18,284.75 points in intra-day trade. The BSE midcap index was up 54.70 points while the smallcap index was 29.58 points high.

The wider 50-scrip S&P; CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange closed 2.62 percent up at 5,577.65 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE realty index was up 74.45 points while metal index was up 422.69 points and banking index was up 485.14 points.

Jindal Steel was the biggest Sensex gainer and closed 8.83 percent higher at Rs.372.25.

Other major gainers were Hindalco Inds, up 8 percent at Rs.118.10; SBI, up 5.52 percent at Rs.1,970.55; RIL, up 5.35 percent at Rs.840.95; and ICICI Bank, up 4.97 percent at Rs.1,006.35.

There were only six Sensex losers which included NTPC, down 1.61 percent at Rs.168.10; Dr Reddys Lab, down 1.59 percent at Rs.1,745.95; ITC, down 0.59 percent at Rs.268.10; and ONGC, down 0.37 percent at Rs.282.

Other Asian markets also closed green. Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.83 percent up, while Shanghai’s composite index closed 0.64 percent higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed 2.90 percent up.

At closing bell here, European markets were trading higher too. France’s CAC was up 2.01 percent and so was Germany’s DAX, up 1.44 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 was trading 1.54 percent higher.