Mumbai, Sep 6 (IANS) A benchmark index of the Indian equities market Friday gained 290 points to end at 19,270 - its highest level in nearly a month.

The gains come a day after the market rallied by 412 points after the new Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan unveiled a slew of measures, which raised overseas borrowing limits for banks.

Healthy buying took place in banking, capital goods, oil and gas, public sector undertakings (PSUs), healthcare and metal stocks. However, selling pressure was observed in consumer durables, auto, realty and information technology (IT) sectors.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened at 19,072.02 points, closed at 19,270.06 points, up 290.30 points or 1.53 percent from the previous day's close at 18,979.76 points. 

The Sensex touched a high of 19,293.96 points and a low of 18,929.38 points during the day.

The wider 50-scrip S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) made gains in Friday's trade session. It gained 87.45 points or 1.56 percent at 5,680.40 points.

“Intentions and initiatives of the new RBI Governor helped in changing the sentiments on the currency and equity markets. Banking stocks and other rate sensitive stocks were the major gainers," said Dipen Shah of Kotak Securities.

"The recent appreciation in the rupee has improved market sentiments. There are expectations of additional dollar flows into the country, which has created optimism on the rupee. Equity markets have reacted on cues from the currency markets."

Good buying was observed in banking index (bankex), capital goods, oil and gas, public sector undertakings (PSUs), healthcare and metal sectors, while selling pressure was observed in consumer durables, auto, realty and information technology (IT) sectors.

The S&P BSE bankex gained 318.45 points, capital goods index ended Friday's trade up 200.42 points, oil and gas index increased by 184.33 points, PSU index index was higher by 111.81 points and healthcare index rose 98.21 points.

However, consumer durables index was down 38.22 points, followed by automobile index which was 2.23 points lower, realty index was 2.11 points down and IT index fell by 0.94 points.

Most of the 30 sensitive index were gainers in the day's trade. These include ICICI Bank, up 7.37 percent at Rs.959; ONGC, up 7.17 percent at Rs.289.15; Bharti Airtel, up 5.47 percent at Rs.313.55; Cipla, up 4.49 percent at Rs.437.60; and Larsen and Toubro (L&T), up 3.58 percent at Rs.753.65.

The main losers were: Tata Power, down 2.61 percent at Rs.70.90; Coal India, down 2.12 percent at Rs.277.45; Sesa Goa, down 1.90 percent at Rs.175.45; Hindustan Unilever, down 1.62 percent at Rs.617.20; and Hero MotoCorp, down 0.76 percent at Rs.1,928.95.

Among the Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 1.45 percent down, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed the day's trade 0.10 percent higher. China's Shanghai Composite Index was higher by 0.83 percent. 

In Europe, London's FTSE 100 was trading 0.06 percent down, while Germany's DAX Index was lower 0.07 percent. The French CAC 40 Index was 0.09 percent down.