Equities on the BSE continued to edge up on fresh buying support yesterday with the second line of stocks in the lead. The BSE Sensex closed at 4,186.29, a gain of 32.01 points over the previous close of 4,154.28.
Reflecting the general sentiment, the Sensex opened at 4,161.94, touched an intra-day high of 4,189.82, fell to a low of 4,145.65, before closing at 4,186.29. The BSE-100 index also moved up to 1,818.37 points against the previous close of 1,803.40 netting a gain of 14.97 points. The BSE-200 and Dollex indices closed at 405.79 and 189.24 against the previous close of 401.68 and 187.32 points respectively.
Pharma stocks were in the limelight with Dr Reddys at Rs 315.75, a gain of Rs 18.75, Nestle at Rs 286.75(+Rs 14.75), Parke Davis at Rs 207.75(+Rs 18.75) and P&G at Rs 760.50(+Rs 44.75) among the major gainers of the day. Other notable gainers in the specified group included IPCL at Rs 134.50(+Rs 5.50), Excel Industries at Rs 224.25(+Rs 6.75) and United Phosphorous at Rs 201.25(+Rs 7.25). Activity in the SBI scrip ,which came out of its no-delivery on the NSE yesterday was expected to have an effect on the overall trading sentiment. However, contrary to market fears, the scrip remained fairly stable, losing Rs 2 on the NSE and Rs 0.50 on the BSE to close at Rs 327.25.
Buoyant sentiment was witnessed in the B1 group too, with most counters witnessing renewed buying interest. Among the notable gainers were Aptech at Rs 453(+Rs 26), Cabot India(+Rs 10), Cheminor Drugs at Rs 120(+Rs 8) and Clariant at Rs 255(+Rs 10). The CMC scrip hit the upper end of the circuit filter at Rs 129.25(+ Rs 6) while Bata India hit the ceiling on the higher side at Rs 148.75(+Rs 13.50).
After a lacklustre performance the previous day, the Infosys scrip bounced back, notching a gain of Rs 80 to close at Rs 2034.25.
