Sensex up 72 points, closes at 15,525

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex closed on Monday with a moderate gain of over 70 points as across-the-board selling pressure of past few sessions eased and buying activity emerged in metal, it and bank counters.

In choppy deals, the BSE barometer surged to day's highest level of 13,793.39 points bus as every rise was met with profit-booking, the Sensex ended with a paltry gain.

The 30-share Sensex fell to intra-day low of 13,475.78 before winding up at 13,525.99, a moderate gain of 71.99 points.

Similarly, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 14 points at 4,030, after touching the day's high of 4,114.50 and a low of 4,002.00 points.

Major support to the market came in from metal index which gained 220.35 points at 12,257.99, followed by information technology index which closed higher by 107.23 points at 4,175.72.

Auto index gained 76.55 points at 3,508.96, bank index 71.96 points at 5,892.79, PSU index by 68.37 points at 5,677.11, FMCG index by 53.29 points at 1,992.65, Teck index by 45.86 points at 3,093.86, capital goods index by 21.87 points at 10,708.42 and power index by 14.22 points at 2,320.46.

Small-cap index rose by 143.34 points at 6,593.01 and mid-cap index by 61.57 points at 5,339.81.

However, oil and gas index fell by 184.02 points at 8,882.14 and healthcare index by 14.71 points at 4,108.58.