Sensex closes 172 points up on strong global cues

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A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 172 points higher on Thursday on robust global cues.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 18,653.60 points, closed at 18,782.99 points (provisional), up 0.93 percent or 172.22 points from its previous day's close at 18,610.77 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 18,806.56 points and a low of 18,576.41 points in intra-day trade.

The BSE midcap index was up 78.98 points, while the smallcap index was up 57.74 points.

On the sectoral front, the BSE realty index was up 48.89 points, followed by banking index, up 277.36 points, and consumer durable index, up 121.57 points.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed 1 percent up at 5,716.80 points.

The major Sensex gainers were Tata Power, 2.94 percent at Rs.106.75; SBI, up 2.75 percent at Rs.2275.50; Hero MotoCorp, 2.25 percent at Rs.1,846; Tata Motors, up 2.25 percent at Rs.270.85; and Larsen and Toubro, up 1.65 percent at Rs.1,651.

The main losers were Wipro, down 2.04 percent at Rs.346; Bharti Airtel, down 1.76 percent at Rs.265.40; Sun Pharma, down 1.69 percent at Rs.700; Gail India, down 0.57 percent at Rs.369.15; and NTPC, down 0.39 percent at Rs.168.15.

Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 2 percent up while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended trading 0.48 percent higher. Shanghai's Composite Index closed 1.24 percent up.

At closing bell here, European markets were trading mixed. France's CAC was down 0.02 percent while Germany's DAX was up 0.39 percent and Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.15 percent.