Share Prices Rise On Fii Buying, Short Covering

Short covering by operators led to share prices moving up on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday. The 30-scrip BSE Sensex opened at 3,373.10, touched a high of 3,398.97, before closing at 3,382.32, up 16.57 points over the last close of 3,365.75.

Market sources said apart from short covering by operators the other factor that boosted the sentiment was buying interest from foreign institutional investors (FIIs), who brought selectively while domestic institutions stayed away most part of the day.

Domestic institutions were buyers since the beginning of the week as the market has moved up the last two days. They might be waiting for the market to react, said a BSE broker. Overall, the market remained depressed barring hectic trading activity in banking stocks, mainly on short covering on initial rumors of the RBI announcing steps to boost the banking sector, said a dealer.

The scrips that saw an upward movement were: Hindalco by Rs 22 at Rs 657, Thermax closed at Rs 173 (+Rs 3), MTNL by Rs 5 at Rs 227. Pharmaceutical stocks that went up on FII buying were Dr Reddy Labs, up by Rs 6 to close at Rs 331, Pfizer by Rs 1 at Rs 430

The Castrol share witnesses volatile trading activity. The scrip opened at Rs 687, touched a high of Rs 696, before falling sharply by Rs 20 at Rs 668. It recovered again to close higher at Rs 677, still down by Rs 6 over the previous days close. According to market sources heavy selling in Castrol during the intra-day trading was due to rumours of operators unloading on finding it difficult to pay the margin money.

Scrips that moved down were Indian Hotels by Rs 23 to close at Rs 801 SBI by Rs 3 at Rs 232. Share prices are likely to dip on Monday as the RBI has announced an hike in CRR. The share prices are quoted lower in the kerb deal, said a broker. Our Financial Bureau