Share Prices Spurt Sharply On Hectic Short Covering

BSE REPORT

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index continued its surge with prices of pivotals moving up sharply. The Sensex touched a new high yesterday when it closed at 4,548.02, a gain of 82.65 points over its previous close of 4,465.37. The BSE Sensex opened at 4,477.50, shot up to an intra-day high of 4,548.79, fell to low of 4,392 before closing at 4,548.02.

Trading activity was hectic in A as well as B group shares as they gained 5-6 per cent in value from their respective previous close. Buying was witnessed in ACC at Rs 1672.25, RIL at Rs 374, TISCO at Rs 223.25, SBI at Rs 338.25, Tata Chem at 210.50, Reliance Capital at 84.50 and also in MNC counters like HLL at Rs 1,555, L&T at Rs 284.75, P&G Rs 972.75 and particularily heavily in pharmaceuticals like Ranbaxy Rs 709.75, E Merck at Rs 251.25.

 

Brokers said the continuing rally was due to sustained buying support by FIIs in select counters coupled with hectic short-covering by operators. The market witnessed buying from foreign funds in key pivotals like TISCO, MTNL, HLL, M&M, Tata Tea. Institutions like James Capel, Peregrine and UBS were among major buyers, a dealer at a leading institutional brokerage said.

Besides FIIs playing a major role there has also been renewed buying interest even among small operators. Investors are also getting support at higher levels in many key counters due to strong FIIs backing. Among the major losers were Essar Steel and Asian paints down by 9 and 7 per cent at Rs 328 and Rs 28.50 respectively.

The total turnover on the BSE rose to Rs 1452.77 crore. ITC topped the list registering the highest turnover of Rs 397.78 crore, followed by RIL Rs 275.16 crore, SBI Rs 176.01 crore, Tisco Rs 75.80 crore and Colgate Rs 48.08 crore.