Sensex closes above 26,000 points; oil and gas stocks rally

The Sensex and the Nifty ended the day higher led by gains in banking and oil and gas related stocks. The Sensex ended the day with gains of 184 points, while the Nifty rallied by 45 points in trade.

Leading the set of gainers from the Nifty was Gail which rallied almost 3.8 per cent with Jindal steel which also closed the day higher by 3 per cent. Tata Steel which reported numbers that lagged estimates also ended the day higher. PSU banking stocks which were hammered on Wednesday recovered some ground and ended the day higher. Bank of India and Syndicate Bank both gained 3 per cent each.

Shares in Bhushan Steel continued to be locked at the lower end of the circuit filter. Nifty stocks that lost ground in trade were HDFC, Hero Motor Corp and State Bank of India.

Mid cap stocks also had a good session with most of the stocks including Steel Authority of India, Adani power and Unitech rallying sharply in trade.

Meanwhile, markets in Europe were trading marginally lower led by losses in the German DAX and the French CAC.

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