Samvat year 2058 is set to have a rollicking start on Dalal Street, if the auspicious moorat trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today is anything to go by.
The 30-share BSE Sensex ended at 3114.60, up 37.41 points over its previous close. The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty matched the momentum and ended higher by 10.40 points at 1015.80 points.
The Diwali spirit infused corrective impulse in the market. Swayed by the bullishness, investors felt that the new year will in usher in an upward trend on bourses.
During the last Samvat the BSE Sensex lost 667 points. The upbeat global markets -- a fallout of Taliban's backward march and the euphoria over the victory of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance in Kabul -- augured well for the domestic market.
It raised hopes that that the economic recovery could begin sooner than anticipated, market players said.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were by and large absent on account of today being a holiday but domestic financial institutions placed token orders in select stocks to mark the auspicious occasion.
Both old and new economy stocks gained confidence of the market and most technology stocks ended higher along with key manufacturing stocks. Of the 30 constituents of Sensex, 26 shares advanced and only four declined.
The largest gainer was Silverline, which rose 5 per cent at Rs 42. Media major Zee Telefilms was up 4.02 per cent at Rs 106.20 on sustained buying interest.
Telco gained 4.45 per cent to wind up at Rs 93.80 after the company announced on Tuesday that its total vehicle sales grew 29.1 per cent in October 2001, helped by rising truck and car sales.
Tech pivotals Satyam Computer was up 2.08 per cent at Rs 161.80 and Infosys Technologies rose 1.98 per cent to Rs 2,956.30 which attracted buying interest encouraged by overnight gains in the US markets.
Pivotal Reliance Industries ended higher by 1.88 per cent at Rs 273.40 and Hindustan Lever was up 0.77 per cent at Rs 215.90.
The Sensex losers included Castrol, State Bank of India, Dr Reddy's and Gujarat Ambuja Cement. Other non-Sensex frontline software stocks gaining ground on fresh buying were Wipro, Hughes Software, HCL Technologies SSI and Digital Global Soft.
GTL and HFCL also firmed up on sustained speculative buying interest. GTL topped volumes on BSE with over 37.23 lakh shares traded in 75-minutes trading. IPCL firmed up after the government announced that it would invite fresh bids for the sale of a 26 per cent stake.
Almost all global markets ended on a positive note. The overnight Nasdaq composite gained 3.40 per cent and closed at 1580.76, the New York Stock Exchange composite index was up 1.61 per cent at 578.31 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended higher by 2.06 per cent at 9750.95.
Market players were cautiously optimistic about an immediate revival in the stock markets. Alok Vajpeyi, chief operating officer, DSP Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, said: "The outlook will turn optimistic towards early next year, as rural demand picks up as a result of growth in the agriculture sector. The stock markets are at historic lows with valuations in many senses at eight plus year lows."
S K Mitra, managing director, Birla Global Finance said: "The underlying sentiment in the market is good ... If there is no more upheaval on the external front, then we expect the market to perk up. Everything depends on what happens in the next few months."
"The introduction of market friendly measures like hike in FII investment limit and introduction of individual stock futures are expected to bear fruits," said Nishid Shah, portfolio manager (equity), Birla Sun Life, said.
