Sensex Rises 121 Points On Selective Fii Buying

The market sentiment remained mixed yesterday as prices of key pivotals surged following selective buying by foreign institutional investors and domestic institutions.

According to brokers, the future course in the market depends on the stability of the Bharatiya Janata Party government.

The 30-scrip Bombay Stock Exchange sensex closed at 3289.56, a net gain of 120.74 points over the previous close of 3,168.82.

The National Stock Exchange-50 (Nifty) opened at 923.20, and touched a high of 951.20 and a low of 916.65 before closing at 949.10, up 24.75 points over the previous close of 924.35. The Nifty Junior closed 27.20 points higher at 1,358.20 compared with the previous close of 1,331.

Brokers say that the ban on short-selling continues to push prices of stocks upwards. FIIs were active on counters like BHEL(close Rs 245.55, up 6.41 per cent), MTNL (Rs 187.65, 9.90 per cent) and BFL Software (Rs 278.05, 9.99 per cent).

According to the provisional figures made available by NSE, FIIs bought shares worth Rs 15.94 crore and sold shares worth Rs 6.53 crore. There was a net inflow of Rs 9.4 crore. Domestic institutions and mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 11.76 crore and sold Rs 2.28 crore.

Senior UTI officials indicated that the market is expected to move in the range of 3300-3500 in the next few months.

"We do not expect a sudden surge in the market in the short-run. The market is swinging to rumours on the political front.

We expect an improvement in the sentiment in the medium term," a senior UTI official said.