Mumbai, Sep 16 (IANS): A benchmark index of Indian equities, the 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), closed 258 points or 1 percent up on Wednesday, its highest in over two weeks, led by positive global cues.
The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also rose 70.05 points or 0.89 percent and closed the day's trade at 7,899.15 points.
The Sensex, which opened at 25,884.05 points, ended the day's trade at 25,963.97 points, up 258.04 points or 1 percent from the previous day's close at 25,705.93 points. It touched a high of 26,006.75 points and a low of 25,816.50 points in the intra-day trade.
"The Sensex and the Nifty, both attained their highest closing levels in more than two weeks. But, the Sensex failed to close above the psychological 26,000-point level after piercing that mark intra-day," said leading retail financing company Geojit BNP Paribas.
"Positive lead from global markets aided decent gains for key equity benchmark indices," it said, adding: "The Sensex and the Nifty remained in positive zone throughout the trading session. Stocks of private banks and index heavyweights ITC and HDFC led the gains for key indices."
According to brokerage Sharekhan, the highest closing in over two weeks was the result of cues from the upbeat Asian markets, even as the possibility of the US Federal Reserve hiking interest rates for the first time in almost decade also loomed large.
"The Asian shares followed Wall Street on Wednesday, albeit in thin volume, and short-term US bond yields held near four-and-a-half-year highs, as investors braced for the possibility of the first interest rate hike in the United States in almost a decade."
As regards the rupee, it fell slightly by 7 paise to a dollar at 66.43.
In the Mumbai exchange, good buying was observed in banking, power, healthcare and tech sectors, while selling pressure was seen in consumer durables and capital goods sectors.
Among the 30 shares that make up the Sensex, only four ended in the negative territory.
The banking index gained by 1.42 percent, power index moved up by 0.70 percent, healthcare index got augmented by 0.67 percent and tech index increased by 0.56 percent. But the consumer durables index plunged 1.45 percent and capital goods index dropped by 0.46 percent.
Major Sensex gainers during Wednesday's trade were: Bharti Airtel, up 2.48 percent at Rs.359.10, Sun Pharma, up 2.38 percent at Rs.887.35, Axis Bank, up 2.35 percent at Rs.494.10, and Hero MotoCorp, up 2.27 percent at Rs.2,363.
Major Sensex losers were: BHEL, down 0.66 percent at Rs.210.30, and L&T, down 0.58 percent at Rs.1,547.85.
The markets will remain closed on Thursday to mark the Hindu religious festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.
Among the Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed higher by 2.38 percent, China's Shanghai Composite Index surged by 4.91 percent and Japan's Nikkei up by 0.81 percent.A