Bulls retain initiative on street

STOCK REPORT

Short covering a day ahead of July futures' expiry and index heavyweight Oil and Natural Gas Corporation's robust earnings pushed indices up nearly 2 per cent on Wednesday.

GAIL (India) gained nearly 8 per cent on news it has been offered two exploration and production blocks in Uzbekistan.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended 10617.27, up 201.66 points or 1.9 per cent. Its range was 10362.61 to 10648.77.

The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty ended 3110.15, up 69.65 points or 2.3 per cent. The day's low was 3022.70 and high 3121.40.

With today's rise the market has gained over 5 per cent in three consecutive sessions.

Turnover on both exchanges combined was Rs 8,200 crore, up from the average Rs 7,800 crore over the last two sessions.

Dealers said that though volumes have improved over the last couple of sessions, they still do not match those seen in May when the market slipped.

"In the absence of any negative triggers, market may gain another 1-2 per cent rest of the week. I believe crude oil prices will slowly and steadily cease to be of any major concern as by now people are quite used to seeing prices in the range of $73-76 a barrel," Govind Satam, dealer at Religare Securities, said.

ONGC, which was flat, jumped after the upstream energy major surprised investors with a 1-for-2 bonus issue.

Its April-June earnings were robust, with 24 per cent year-on-year rise in net profit compared with an estimated 14 per cent rise. Revenue rose 35 per cent compared with the estimated 15 per cent.

Mahindra & Mahindra rose 7 per cent after the automobile maker said April-June net profit rose 41 per cent to Rs 204 crore.

Other notable gainers were Zee Tele (up 6.9 per cent), Ranbaxy (4.4 per cent), and Suzlon Energy (4.2 per cent).