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Mumbai, Feb 19 (IANS) A benchmark index for Indian equities markets closed Tuesday's trade up more than half a percent, as healthcare, information technology (IT) and automobile stocks gained. The 30-scrip Sensex, which opened at 19,523.70 points, closed at 19,635.72 points, up 134.64 points or 0.69 percent from its previous close at 19,501.08 points. The Sensex touched an intra-day high of 19,671.17 points and a low of 19,457.21 points. The midcap index ended higher by 74.40 points, while the smallcap index closed 62.25 points up. The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) closed higher by 41.50 points or 0.70 percent at 5,939.70 points. 41.50 0.70 There was healthy buying in healthcare, IT and automobile scrips. None of the sectoral indices declined.The healthcare index was up 108.89 points, followed by the IT index, up 106.79 points, and the automobile index, up 104.28 points. The major Sensex gainers were ONGC, up 4.03 percent at Rs.330.25; Bajaj Auto, up 2.36 percent at Rs.1,997; Maruti Suzuki, up 2.19 percent at Rs.1,512.20 BHEL, up 2.00 percent at Rs.211.80 and Cipla, up 1.96 percent at Rs.386.95. Only eight of the 30 Sensex scrips declined. These included Bharti Airtel, down 1.94 percent at Rs.307.75; Hero MotoCorp, down 1.37 percent at Rs.1,672.65; Gail India, down 1.37 percent at Rs.334.50; Coal India, down 1.35 percent at Rs.338.80; and Jindal Steel, down 0.79 percent at Rs.376.30. Among other Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.31 percent lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.02 percent down. China's Shanghai Composite Index closed 1.60 percent down. In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.57 percent, while the German DAX was trading 0.80 percent higher. The French CAC 40 was up 1.03 percent.
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