Sensex zooms 300 points, crosses 20,000-mark

Mumbai: A benchmark index of Indian equities on Thursday moved 313 points higher in afternoon trade, going well past the 20,000-mark.

The 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,951.34 points, was ruling at 20,185.2 points, up 313.05 points or 1.57 per cent, from its previous close at 19,872.15 points.

At the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was trading at 6,074.3 points, up 1.54 percent.

Broader markets were doing much better. The BSE midcap index was ruling 1.17 per cent higher, while the BSE small cap index moved 1.1 per cent up.

Among the gainers on the Sensex were Bharti Airtel, ITC, Cipla, Hindustan Unilever and RIL.

The major loser was ACC, while Infosys was trading flat.

Other Asian markets fell after China's economic growth slowed to 9.6 per cent in the third quarter and inflation rose at its fastest rate to 3.6 per cent in almost two years. China this week hiked benchmark interest rates by a quarter-percentage point.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was ruling 0.31 percent lower at 23,630.55 points, while the Japanese Nikkei closed flat at 9,376.48 points.

The Shanghai Composite index was trading at 2,983.53, down 0.68 per cent.