Sensex ends up 141 points; Nifty hits 52 week high

Bangalore: The key benchmark index surged in afternoon trade today led by advances in realty, banking and capital goods stocks. IT stocks, however, were under pressure. The benchmark Sensex rose 141.27 points to 15,922.34 levels and the Nifty was up 44.15 points to close at 4,732.35. After touching a new year high of 4,743 points.

During the trading session Friday, nine of the 13 sector-specific indices closed in the green, while those for consumer durables, fast-moving consumer goods, information technology and healthcare closed in the negative territory. The realty index on the BSE rose 3.5 percent and the banking index was up 1.4 percent. The BSE metal index advanced 1.3 percent. The BSE IT index dropped 0.6 percent. The chart showing the 52 week performance of the Sensex is on the left.

Among the 30 shares that comprise the Sensex basket, 21 closed higher, while the remaining nine ended in the red.

Realty major DLF led the gainers, up 5.3 percent at Rs.413.15, followed by Jaiprakash Associates, up 5.18 percent at Rs.230.60, Bharti Airtel, up 4.39 percent at Rs.434.80 and Hindalco, up 3.07 percent at Rs.109.25.

Tata Power, on the other hand, was the top loser among the Senses shares, down 1.36 percent at Rs.1,338.60, followed by ITC, down 1.27 percent at Rs.236.75, Sun Pharma, down 0.96 percent at Rs.1,204.20 and Wipro, down 0.77 percent at Rs.564.10.

Asian markets had a mixed day of trading. South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei rose over 0.5 percent each. China's Shanghai Composite slipped 2.9 percent.