Sensex up 71 points in intra-noon trading

Mumbai, Aug 25 (UNI) Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index (Sensex) traded 71 points up in the intra-noon trade as the buying activity picked-up in the heavyweight companies.

The Sensex currently trades at 11,602.53 as compared to the previous close of 11,532 points.

The subdued south-west monsoon has helped the consumer durables and capital goods sectors to pick up late in August.

Meanwhile, as per provisional data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) sold shares worth Rs 24 crore yesterday, the day when the Sensex surged 125 points.

Besides, the crude oil prices inched higher, the Nymex crude oil rose 0.63 cents to US dollar 72.99 per barrel.

Amongst the sectoral indices metals was up 2.38 per cent, consumer durables by 1.49 per cent, PSU by 1.11 per cent, bankex by 1.08 per cent and the oil&gas by 1.01 per cent.

Top gainers on the index were SBI, Hindalco, Tata Steel, HLL, Bajaj Auto, Satyam Computers, Grasim Industries, TCS, Gujarat Ambuja and ICICI Bank, all up between 0.75 per cent to 3.28 per cent.

Among the losers were Tata Motors, HDFC Bank, Reliance Communications, NTPC, Larsen and Toubro, Reliance Energy, Wipro, Dr Reddy's Lab and HDFC, all down between 0.22 per cent to 1.19 per cent.

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