Sensex Ends Over 150 Points Higher; Power, Metal Shares Outperform

The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 Indexes rose for second day in a row paced by gains in power, metal and utilities shares. The Sensex and Nifty opened lower and for most part of the day traded in a rangebound manner. However, gains in banking heavyweights like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Yes Bank helped Sensex and Nifty end with gains. The Sensex moved in a range of 354 points and the NSE Nifty 50 Index touched high of 11,871.85 and low of 11,757.

The Sensex ended 157 points or 0.4 per cent to close at 39,592 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index advanced 0.4 per cent or 51 points to close at 11,848.

Thirteen of 19 sector gauges compiled by BSE ended higher led by the S&P BSE Metal Index's 3 per cent gain.

Power, Realty, Capital Goods, Utilities, Industrials, Basic Materials and Healthcare sector gauges also rose between 1 and 2 per cent each.

On the flipside, S&P BSE Information Technology Index was top loser, down 0.7 per cent.

Mid- and small-cap shares witnessed buying interest as the S&P BSE MidCap Index rose 0.85 per cent and S&P BSE SmallCap Index advanced 0.47 per cent.

Vedanta was top gainer in the Nifty 50 basket of shares, the stock rose 5 per cent to Rs 179. JSW Steel, Power Grid, Sun Pharma, Hindalco, Tata Steel, UPL, Yes Bank, Grasim Industries and Dr. Reddy's Labs were also among the gainers.

On the flipside, Britannia Industries, Indiabulls Housing Finance, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki were among the losers.

The overall market breadth was positive as 1,440 shares closed higher while 1,051 ended lower on the BSE.