Sensex scales above 7,800 mark

The NSE Nifty also ended strong at 2,384.35 mark, with a gain of 16.60 points or 0.70 per cent.

‘‘Speculators are in no mood to give up. The Sensex will cross the 8,000 level within a week,’’ said stock dealer Pradip Bhavnani. A section of marketmen feel that the market is rising without any fundamental support. Even FII inflow has slowed down.

It exhibited sluggishness in the morning in the absence of any positive triggers. The overnight weak closing of Nasdaq at 2,130, down 0.37 per cent, and Dow Jones index at 10,413, down 0.48 per cent, also weighed down the sentiment.

On Tuesday, crude oil prices rose sharply and the Nymex US light crude oil for October delivery jumped $2.610 to $69.81 a barrel, but ended off the intra-day high of $70.85 per barrel.

Among Sensex stocks, 21 ended up while nine stocks moved lower. HDFC Bank was the Sensex’s biggest loser, down 1.05 per cent to Rs 640. Tata Power was the biggest gainer, adding 4.2 per cent to Rs 449.5.

Sectoral indices — the BSE Small Cap index (up 1.62 per cent), the BSE Mid Cap index (up 1.25 per cent), the BSE Bankex (up 0.35 per cent), the BSE PSU index (up 0.36 per cent), the BSE IT Index (up 1.15 per cent), the BSE Tech index (up 0.97 per cent), and the BSE FMCG index (up 0.46 per cent) — all moved up.

The BSE Consumer Durables index was down marginally by 0.02 per cent.