Equities Close Higher On Hope-Driven Trading

Equities yesterday traded in a narrow range on hope-driven activity and select speculative support at lower levels on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The absence of major players pushed down prices in mid-session. However, select buying at lower levels by domestic institutions and local investors improved sentiment. The trading was very dull and the Sensex moved in a narrow range. There was some respite as volumes in some B group shares went up dramatically. The activity shifted from pivotals to B group scrips which was a welcome relief, said a leading BSE broker.

For a change the pivotals were not in the spot light. There was selective FII buying in scrips such as Mahindra and Mahindra, BPCL and TVS.

Sources informed that the market is anticipating sops in the forthcoming Budget. Punters were unwilling to take fresh positions yesterday. Tomorrow being the last day of settlement we expect hectic trading in select counters, said another broker. The ITC counter witnessed busy trading yesterday. Speculators select a particular scrip and play with it for some period and then switch on to others, said another broker.

Reflecting the market mood, the BSE Sensitive Index opened easier at 3482.86, touched a low of 3472.02 before recovering to a high of 3512.40. The index closed at 3492.65 with a gain of 9.17 points over the previous close of 3483.48. The BSE-100 Index improved by 4.05 points to 1522.16. The BSE-200 edged up to 338.34 from 337.09. The Dollex Index was marginally up at 156.82. Marketmen were nervous following the debacle of the former Union minister Kalpanath Rai in the Punjab assembly elections and most of the players remained sidelined but held on to their holdings on hopes that the government would announce a major revival package in the forthcoming Budget.