Mumbai, Aug 14 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities markets ended Thursday's trade 184.28 points or 0.71 percent up as capital goods, bank stocks rallied.

Nearly all the sectors were trading in green, except information technology (IT) and technology, entertainment and media (TECK).

Healthy buying was observed in banking, capital goods, metal, healthcare, oil and gas and consumer durables sectors.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 25,948.30 points, closed trade at 26,103.23 points (provisional), up 184.28 points or 0.71 percent from the previous day's close at 25,918.95 points.

The Sensex touched a high of 26,135 points and a low of 25,945.35 points in the trade so far.

The S&P BSE capital goods gained 251.31 points, metal index got augmented by 243.02 points, bank index increased by 184.23 points, consumer durables index inched up by 176.26 points, oil and gas index was up 152.32 points and healthcare index rose 144.72 points.

The information technology (IT) index was down 7.58 points and TECK index was lower by 2.67 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also closed the trade by making gains. It was up 52.15 points or 0.67 percent up at 7,791.70 points.

The major Sensex gainers were: Gail India, up 3.79 percent at Rs.426; Sesa Sterlite, up 2.80 percent at Rs.288.30; Tata Motors, up 2.53 percent at Rs.484.60; Tata Power, up 2.37 percent at Rs.90.70; and ONGC, up 2.03 percent at Rs.409.95.

The losers were: Hero MotoCorp, down 2.69 percent at Rs.2,510.95; HDFC, down 1.44 percent at Rs.1,124.50, Hindalco Inds, down 0.83 percent at Rs.178.50, Bharti Airtel, down 0.75 percent at Rs.365.55; and Hindustan Unilever, down 0.61 percent at Rs.714.05.