Sensex, Nifty rally 1.5% in July series

Equity benchmarks ended higher in July series. The 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 17,992, up 1.46% and the 50-share NSE Nifty rose 1.65% to settle at 5,408.90. The Nifty August futures ended at 14 points premium, as per provisional data.

On the sectoral front, the BSE Realty Index rose 7.5%; Bankex gained 5.2% and IT Index went up 2.6%. However, BSE Healthcare was down 2.6% and Oil & Gas down 1.2%.

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Telecom stocks like Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular shot up 20% each.

In the midcap space, Petronet LNG was up 20%. IFCI, Sobha Developers and Aban Offshore rose 18% each.

PSU banks like Allahabad Bank surged 20% and UCO Bank gained 17%. OBC and Bank of India rallied 16%.

Oil marketing companies like HPCL and BPCL shot up 24% & 17%, respectively.

Among other frontliners, Bajaj Auto was up 13%. Unitech and IDFC went up 12% each.

However, Maruti Suzuki tanked 13% on disappointing numbers. Hero Honda was down 11% and JP Associates down 8%.

The BSE Small Cap Index was up 3.2%.