Sensitive Index Pierces 3,900 Mark On Fii Buying

BSE REPORT

The BSE sensitive index yesterday pierced the psychological 3900-mark to close at 3927.71. The sentiment was extremely upbeat from the morning session itself and the index finally gained 66.74 points over its previous close of 3860.97.

The bullish sentiment which prevailed was largely on account of FIIs embarking on an across the board buying spree, mainly targeting oil and software stocks.

Among the key pivotals, ITC was the biggest gainer with the scrip touching Rs 502 during intra day trading. It finally closed at Rs 495.25, up Rs 9.75 over the previous close. While the Reliance counter moved up appreciably during the trading session, the scrip finally gained only 75 paise to close at Rs 316, SBI edged up by Rs 5.25 to close at Rs 319.50.

 

The BSE notched up a turnover of Rs 770.15 crore with a total of 3.35 crore shares being traded during the day. Among the A group stocks which touched their 52-week highs yesterday were Glaxo, HDFC, HPCL, ITC, Lakme and SmithKline Beecham. With the petroleum price hike around the corner, the refinery and petroleum counters gained ground. Prominent among them were HPCL, ONGC, Madras Refineries and IOC.

Though a fuel price hike would also mean that commodity prices and transportation costs would also move up, this did not dampen the mood of the investors. Market circles said yesterdays rise in the indices was also on account of domestic institutions staying away from the markets as sellers.

Normally, profit taking by Indian institutions at higher levels restrict the upward bound movement of the pivotals. This did not happen yesterday, said a dealer with a foreign brokerage.