Capital goods stocks up 2.35%

The capital goods stocks surged after output of six core infrastructure industries grew by 7.1%.

Capital goods stocks surged 2.35 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange today on continued buying support,after the output of the six core infrastructure industries grew by 7.1 per cent in January.

The 19-share BSE capital goods index emerged as the best performer among sectoral indices,by rising 304.12 points,or 2.35 per cent,to close at 13,222.99 points,contributing to the benchmark BSE-30 shares index,which ended the day 43.26 points up at 18,489.76.

Sentiments were also buoyed after Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced several key initiatives in the Budget to boost the infrastructure sector,including creation of an infrastructure debt fund and raising the limit of foreign institutional investors in corporate bonds.

Stocks of Larsen & Toubro,the biggest engineering company,gained 3.17 per cent to close at one-week high of Rs 1,662.

State-run,BHEL shot up 3.30 per cent to Rs 2,126.35,while Bharat Earth Movers Ltd closed the day rose 0.12 per cent to Rs 644.55.

Other gainers were BGR Energy,by 2.07 per cent to Rs 438.45,Havells India by 2.26 per cent to Rs 352.55,Punj LLoyd by 4.74 per cent to Rs 66.30,Reliance Industrial Infra by 0.82 per cent to Rs 653.80,Gammon India by 1.66 per cent to Rs 128.70 and Siemens by 0.64 per cent to Rs 855.