Failing to sustain intra-day gains, the BSE benchmark Sensex on Thursday closed 40 points higher as trading sentiment weakened with the rupee trading near its record lows, tepid buying in blue-chips and persisting eurozone concerns.
The Sensex, which had lost 298.16 points in the previous session, gained 40.39 points, or 0.25 per cent to settle at 16,070.48. The 30-share barometer touched the day’s high 16,240.18 but pared gains later after European markets opened weak.
The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty added 11.95 points, or 0.25 per cent to 4,870.20, after climbing to as high as 4,922.25.
Stocks in sectors such as refinery, FMCG, realty and metal sectors saw buying activity. Brokers said emergence of buying in select stocks followed the spate of recent losses.
FMCG major ITC with a 3.14 per cent rise today led the Sensex gainers. It was followed by Jindal Steel (1.98 pc), DLF (1.68 pc), HDFC (1.59 pc) and SBI (1.56 pc). Maruti and RIL were up 1.32 per cent each.
The BSE-Capital Goods was the worst performing sectoral index today, down over 2 per cent. BSE-Consumer Durables and BSE-Power logged losses between 0.9-1.2 per cent.
The rupee opened at 54.36 versus the US dollar and was trading near 54.50 levels.
Market participants said selective buying kept the market in positive even as Asian markets showed mixed trends.
