Share Prices Firm Up On Selective Fii Purchases

A sense of cautious optimism prevailed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday as equities continued to firm up on speculative and selective institutional buying interest.

However, profit-taking towards the end of the session negated all the gains made earlier on. Most of the activity was confined to side counters, due to which actual sentiments were not reflected in the index. The Sensex closed at 3,820.87, a loss of 4.15 points over the previous close. The total turnover was Rs 947 crore.

The Sensex opened on a strong note at 3,825.02 and immediately went up to an intra-day high of 3,852.42 on speculative interest. However, on sustained selling pressure touched an intra day low of 3,802.50 before recovering marginally to 3,820.87 at close.

The Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayees decision to allot the finance portfolio to himself for the time being was viewed positively by the market. Stocks like Cadbury, Colgate, Britannia and HLL posted handsome gains on the back of renewed institutional demand. Marketmen said mutual funds were reshuffling their portfolios on account of year end considerations. Block deals were reported at many B group counters which marketmen attributed to inter-scheme transfers.

Dealers said domestic institutions had slowed down sales unlike in the past week where they were booking profits at higher levels. This pushed up prices due to shortage of supply. The Nestle scrip witnessed hectic trading interest following excellent corporate results. Marketmen said institutions were still adopting a cautious stance as they were still uncertain about the policy measures of the new government given the fragile nature of the coalition. However, they did not see much of a downslide in the index in the immediate short term.