Mumbai, March 5 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets closed 67 points up Wednesday on continued foreign-investor buying in blue chip stocks.

The 30-scrip S&P Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 21,280.36 points, closed at 21,276.86 points, up 67.13 points or 0.32 percent from its previous day's close at 21,209.73 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 21,333.20 points and a low of 21,176.16 points intra-day.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed trade at 30.70 points or 0.49 percent up at 6,328.65 points.

Good buying was observed in banking index (bankex) and capital goods sectors, while selling pressure was seen in consumer durables and auto sectors.

The S&P BSE bankex increased by 183.09 points and capital goods index inched up by 118.84 points, while consumer durables index dropped by 145.52 points and auto index went down by 28.86 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: ICICI Bank, up 2.70 percent at Rs.1,097.15; Coal India, up 1.74 percent at Rs.251.50; Cipla, up 1.72 percent at Rs.385.25; and State Bank of India, up 1.54 percent at Rs.1,573.50.

The losers were: Tata Power, down 3.25 percent at Rs.77.45; Bharti Airtel, down 1.67 percent at Rs.282.80; Gail India, down 1.21 percent at Rs.375.35; and Reliance Industries Limited, down 0.95 percent at Rs.806.90.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.20 percent up; while China's Shanghai Composite Index was lower by 0.89 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down by 0.34 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.45 percent down. Germany's DAX Index was also down 0.37 percent and so was the French CAC 40 Index, down 0.36 percent.