Easing crude prices lift Indian equity indices

Mumbai, May 28 (IANS) The key Indian equity indices traded in the positive territory on Monday afternoon due to the fall in global crude oil prices.

According to market analysts, heavy buying was observed in the capital goods, oil and gas and banking stocks.

However, heavy selling pressure on the IT, Teck (technology, entertainment and media) and consumer durables stocks limited the gains on the indices.

At 12.29 p.m., the wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) traded at 10,687.55 points -- up 82.40 points or 0.78 per cent -- from the previous close of 10,605.15 points.

Similarly, the 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had opened at 35,074.32 points, traded at 35,178.33 points (at 12.31 p.m.), higher by 253.46 points or 0.73 per cent from the previous close at 34,924.87 points.

The Sensex has so far touched a high of 35,174.43 points and a low of 35,006.50 points in the trade so far. The BSE market breadth was bullish with 1,728 advances so far against 731 declines.

The major gainers on the BSE were Sun Pharma, Coal India, Larsen and Toubro, Asian Paints and Maruti Suzuki while Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Mahindra and Mahindra and Adani Ports were the major losers.

On the NSE, the top gainers were Sun Pharma, Hindustan Petroleum and BPCL. The major losers were Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and TCS.