Pivotals Surge On Buying Support, Short Covering

Market friendly corporate results continued to boost the trading sentiment on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) yesterday with equities edging up on buying support from speculators. The Sensex closed at 3755.10, up 30.99 points over the previous close.

Leading brokers said the upsurge was mainly due to hectic short covering, yesterday being the last day of the settlement. The Sensex opened at 3724.52, touched a low of 3714.76, shot to a high of 3764.21, before slipping to 3755.10 at close. Key pivotals firmed up over their previous levels with the Reliance scrip topping the list. Reliance moved up by Rs 7.50 to close at Rs 303.75, ITC by Rs 5.50 at Rs 436.50, Tisco by Rs 3.75 at Rs 172.75 and SBI by Rs 2.25 at Rs 306.75.

 

Among the index scrips, ACC edged up to Rs 1075, a gain of Rs 26.25, while Bajaj Auto gained Rs 10.75 to close at Rs 862. The L&T scrip cashed in on its good corporate performance and gained Rs 6.25 to close at Rs 213. Ranbaxy was a major gainer in the specified group, gaining Rs 49.25 to close at Rs 624.50. In the same group Hero Honda touched an intra- day high of Rs 524 before closing lower at Rs 517, up Rs 18.25. Other notable gainers included Tata Tea at Rs 292.75 (+Rs 10.25) and Sterlite Industries at Rs 281(+Rs 13).

In the B1 group, major gainers were Cipla at Rs 706.25, a gain of Rs 26.25, Crisil at Rs 316, up Rs 13.50 and IOC at Rs 807, up Rs 27.

The total turnover on the BSE was Rs 707.21 crore. RIL topped the list registering the highest of Rs 236.30 crore, SBI Rs 137.05 crore, ITC Rs 113.49 crore, Tisco Rs 42.82 crore and Telco Rs 30.50 crore. Hectic activity was also seen in MTNL Rs 13.22 crore, L&T Rs 13.05 crore, Hero Honda Rs 11.40 crore, ACC Rs 9.14 crore, Bajaj Auto Rs 5.70 crore, Bhel Rs 4.54 crore, HLL Rs 4.27 crore, BSES Rs 4.16 crore, Hindalco Rs 3.28 crore and IPCL Rs 3.19 crore. Our Financial Bureau