Sensex Rebounds, Crosses 3400-Mark
The Sensex shot up by a sharp 90.16 points closing at 3406.22 points, while the National Stock Exchange-50 (the Nifty) settled at 999, a 22-point increase over its previous close of 977 points. The total volumes traded at the BSE were Rs 476.70 crore, while on the NSE, the volume was Rs 920.51 crore.
Brokers said yesterday's rise in the indices was a continuation of Tuesday's kerb activities. It may be recalled that all the pivotals including Reliance Industries, the State Bank of India and Tisco moved up sharply by Rs 4 to Rs 5 on buying support.
Supported by some institutional buying, punters took control of the proceedings. The high volumes at both the bourses were mainly due to speculation, said a dealer in brokerage Alpic Securities.
FIIs, according to market circles, were largely absent yesterday. There were a few buy orders, but generally they (FIIs) preferred to stay out of the market, a broker said. There was a price freeze on the Reliance, SBI and Tisco stock on the NSE as their prices touched the price filter band of five per cent.
Market circles said that pivotals looked up because of rumours that the government is considering revising the MAT structure. The Reliance scrip dominated the BSE bourse yesterday while at the NSE it was the SBI stock which led the upsurge. The top three stocks on the NSE in turnover terms were SBI, Reliance and Tisco.
The Reliance counter opened at Rs 204.80 on the NSE, a good Rs 5.40 rise over Tuesday's close of Rs 199.40. Despite witnessing an initial setback of Rs 203.50, it later moved up sharply to register the day's high of Rs 209.40. It closed at Rs 209.40. The stock gained Rs 10 at the end of the session. Market circles said that some interested buying was witnessed in the stock. The turnover for the stock was Rs 229.67 crore on the NSE. The SBI stock also gained by about Rs 8, from its previous close of Rs 263.95. Yesterday it opened at Rs 269 on the NSE, had an intra-day high of Rs 273.50, (where the stock hit the price filter). Though the stock had initially slumped to a low of Rs 267.55, it finally closed at Rs 271.25. Turnover in the scrip was Rs 354.07 crore on the NSE.
In Tisco meanwhile, trading volumes worth Rs 95.06 crore was transacted on the NSE and on the BSE it was to the tune of Rs 56.53 crore yesterday. Following Tuesday's close of Rs 181.70, the stock touched the high of Rs 190.80 on the NSE. While the low was Rs 184.95, the scrip finally closed at Rs 189.40 gaining about Rs 8.
The BSE 100 too moved in a very narrow range, gaining 35.06 points over the previous close of 1516.20. It opened at 1532.76 points, the day's high was 1551.26, and the index finally closed at 1551.26 points.