JOIN USSensex closes at 14-month high, up 254 points at close
Both the key indices, Senses and Nifty, struck their highest level in 14 months, with the latter closing above the 4,700 mark for the first time since June 6, 2008.
Auto stocks up
The rally was led by auto, realty, oil & gas and metal stocks. At the same time, good buying was also witnessed in the power, capital goods and pharma segment too.
Auto stocks jumped after posting robust sales in July, with the country’s largest car maker by sales Maruti Suzuki hitting a record high. Metal and realty stocks were also in demand. Strong inflows from foreign funds had boosted the bourses in the past few weeks.
The Sensex rose 253.92 points or 1.62 per cent to close at 15,924.23. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty at NSE was up 74.95 points or 1.61 per cent to settle at 4,711.40 points at close. It had hit a high of 4,723.75, which is its highest level since June 6, 2008.
The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices closed up 2.36 and 1.74 per cent respectively. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 5,598.54 crore lower than Rs 6,292.49 crore on July 31, 2009. While the NSE cash segment accounted for Rs 16,687.11 crore, its future & options turnover stood at Rs 50,805.16 crore for the day. The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, as many as 1,690 shares advanced as compared with 998 scrips that declined and a total of 71 stocks remained unchanged.