Fiis Active Buyers, Sensex Up 28 Points

The stock markets continued to tread on the recovery path yesterday witnessing hectic activity in select stocks through active support from the foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

The 30-share BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex) gained strength after opening at 3801.98 level.

The index touched a low of 3798.45 early morning but recovered later to touch an intra-day high of 3864.77 before closing at 3828.99, gaining 28.36 points over the previous close of 3800.63.

The markets, however, took a slide towards the close largely because of heavy profit taking by local operators, domestic financial institutions and FIIs, sources said.

The FIIs were active in key stocks like Tisco, Telco, Bata, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto and MTNL. Tisco touched the circuit filter level of 187 on BSE and the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the FIIs increased their presence with a gross purchase of Rs 45 crore on Tuesday, while gross sales stood at Rs 35 crore, resulting in a net purchase of Rs 10 crore.

NSE witnessed a negotiated deal in HPCL for one lakh shares at Rs 404, involving an FII, the sources said.

The Gail scrip, too, witnessed a negotiated deal for 25,000 shares at Rs 121, the sources added.

Though the FII presence was low in the overall trading pattern, in terms of volumes in select stocks, they were the key players.

The market is likely to witness a level of 3900 in the coming week. The activity has already started to pick up with the political crisis easing substantially, said Nikhil Thakker of Ind Global Securities. Tisco witnessed brisk trades to clock a turnover of Rs 152.78 crore while in Telco, the traded turnover stood at Rs 49.36 crore on NSE.

The M&M stock was the favourite of FIIs yesterday with a turnover of Rs 3.77 crore. The stock has gained nearly Rs 19 over the past three trading days.