Sensex up 200 pts, Nifty tests 23,600; RIL, HUL lead

Renewed buying interest in bankding and select index heavyweights lifted the benchmark indices to the day’s high in mid-noon deals today. The BSE Sensex hit a high of 77,643, and the Nifty 23,624.

The BSE benchmark was up 100 points at 77,450 levels, while the Nifty quoted around 23,550 levels.

JSW Steel, Kotak Bank, Tata Steel, Reliance and Hindustan Unilever were the top movers among the Sensex 30 stocks – up 1 – 2 per cent each. On the other hand, Sun Pharma, Mahindra & Mahindra, NTPC, Bharti Airtel amd Power Grid were the key losers.

In the broader market, the BSE MidCap index was up 0.3 per cent, and the BSE SmallCap index jumped 0.9 per cent.

Among sectors, the Nifty Metal index gained 2 per cent, and the Nifty Private Bank index added 1 per cent.