Sensex ends gloomy Oct with 744 pt jump

Investors heaved a sigh of relief as October, the worst month for the benchmark indices, ended on a sparkling note. Extending post-Diwali gains, the stock markets today staged an impressive comeback rally with the Bombay Stock Exchange’s benchmark Sensex closing the day higher by nearly 750 points on brisk buying by funds and foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The 30-share Sensex closed at 9,788.06 points, up 743.55 points or 8.22 per cent. The broad-based 50-share National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty-50 closed at 2,885.6 points, up 188.55 points or nearly 7 per cent.

Yesterday the Indian markets were closed for trading even as Asian markets rallied after the US Federal Reserve cut its main policy rate to 1 per cent on October 29 to stave off the credit crunch. China reduced rates the same day with Taiwan and Hong Kong following up with rate cuts on October 30. The Bank of Japan announced a 20 basis point cut in interest rate on October 31.

The Indian markets today generally bucked Asian markets trends. Brokers said buying support in India strengthened when rating agency Standard & Poor’s re-affirmed its stable outlook for India. Optimism also grew after inflation, based on the wholesale price index (WPI), slipped to 10.68 per cent in the week ended October 18, from 11.07 per cent in the previous week.
 

GLOBAL MARKETS
ASIA	% Chg*
Nikkei 225	-5.01
Hang Seng	-2.52
Shanghai Composite	-1.97
Kospi	2.61
EUROPE
CAC 40	2.33
FTSE 100	2.00
DAX	2.44
US #	% Chg*
Nasdaq 100	1.70
Dow Jones	2.02
* over previous close # at midnight (IST)

FIIS MAKE A COMEBACK
(Rs crore)	Oct 31 ,2008

FII1237.21 DII-116.10

“Today’s market must be viewed in the context of yesterday’s rally in the Asian markets. Even inflation data boosted sentiments,” said Jignesh Shah, vice-president, investment advisory services, private banking, at ABN AMRO.

The upsurge in the market was supported by metal, oil and gas, bank and capital goods stocks. The rise in sectoral indices ranged between 2.74 and 10.20 per cent. ICICI Bank surged 15.50 per cent, its biggest gain in three weeks. The bank was hammered regularly on rumours of heavy exposure to sticky loans overseas.
 

TOP SENSEX GAINERS
	31-Oct	% Chg*
Mah & Mah	372.35	23.09
HDFC	1764.55	17.48
Jaiprakash Asso	71.85	16.55
ICICI Bank	399.35	15.5
Sterlite Ind	282.2	14.48
TOP SENSEX LOSERS
Ranbaxy Labs	169.45	-1.97
TCS	537.45	-0.93
* over previous close Share Price in Rs on BSE

Dealers said that today’s rally was partly a result of short-covering but domestic institutional investors (DIIs) booked profits as some stocks surged over 15 per cent.

Analysts said the bellwether index is still recovering from the massive 23 per cent drop this month, the most on record, which saw the Sensex plunging below 8,000.