The benchmark Sensex extended gains for the third straight session today and closed 106.08 points up at nearly 1-month high buoyed by better-than-estimated second quarter GDP growth and November manufacturing data.
The 30-share BSE index rose by 106.08 points, or 0.51 per cent to close at 20,898.01, after touching the day's high of 20,941. In three days, Sensex has gained over 477 points. This is the index's highest closing since 20,974.79 on November 5.
ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, L&T and Bharti Airtel led the 21 gainers in the bluechip index while HUL, ONGC, Infosys and GAIL were among the nine laggards.
The 50-share National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 41.75 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 6,217.85 led by stocks of healthcare and capital goods.
Brokers said 4.8 per cent growth in second quarter GDP bettered analyst estimates and the improvement in HSBC India manufacturing index for November boosted domestic markets.
The HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for the manufacturing industry climbed from 49.6 in October to 51.3 in November on the back of a rebound in new orders and output. This was the first manufacturing PMI reading above 50.0 since July and is the highest in 7 months.
Sectorally, the BSE Healthcare index gained the most and rose 2 per cent, followed by Capital Goods index (1.61 per cent), Banking index (1.16 per cent) and Metal index (1 per cent). Auto shares also saw some uptick after some companies reported lower-than-expected fall in November sales data, analysts said.
