The BSE Sensex continued to move up fuelled by some persistent buying by FIIs yesterday. The Sensex gained by 55.24 points over its previous close of 3927.71 to close at 3982.95.
The market opened on a buoyant note and was steadily moving up towards the 4,000-mark. However, some profit booking by institutions at higher levels brought down the index to 3960-level in mid-session.
Market circles said todays market is likely to witness some hectic profit-booking by institutions. This could happen at any time when the Sensex touches or crosses the 4000-mark, said a prominent broker.
Hectic trading activity was seen in several pivotals like SBI, Tata Electric, Tata Tea, Bajaj Auto, ICICI, L&T, M&M and Escorts which will come up for no-delivery from next Monday.
The pivotals that touched 52-week highs were BPCL, HDFC, HLL, HPCL, ITC, Lakme, RIL and SmithKline Beecham. Defying the general market trend, Bhel lost Rs 7 over the previous close at Rs 402.75.
Software scrips slowed down after three days of bull run with Tata Infotech and Infosys Technologies marginally losing ground. However, oil scrips continued to surge ahead with BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and Oil Country Tubular touching new highs.
Among MNC stocks, the major gainers were Castrol at Rs 504 (+Rs 23.50), Lakme at Rs 440 (+Rs 15.75), HLL at Rs 1287 (+Rs 41) and Ponds at Rs 1627, a gain of Rs 147.75.
The total turnover on the screen-based trading system was reported at Rs 718.09 crore. The business volume on the SBI scrip came down sharply and it went to third position following report of the strike by officers in the SBI branch in Mumbai and suburbs.
