NEWSLINKS
INDIA & THE WTO
NEW GOVERNMENT
COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES
SEARCH REDIFF

Prices soar as tech stocks, pivotals flare up; Sensex, Nifty at all-time closing highs

The 30-share BSE Sensex of the Bombay Stock Exchange and the S&P CNX Nifty Index of the National Stock Exchange closed at an all-time-high today as technology and index-based stocks flared up on sustained buying spree from market players for the second consecutive day today.

The Sensex closed at 5610.56 points, up by 136.56 points or 2.49 per cent from the previous close of 5474.00 points while the S&P CNX Nifty Index too closed higher by about 30 points at 1665.95 points from the previous close of 1636.60 points.

On January 4 and 10, 2000, the Sensex and Nifty closed at the then all-time highs of 5518.39 points and 1638.07 points respectively.

Driven by continuous bullish phase on the Nasdaq Stock Market and heavy buying by foreign institutional investors, select heavyweights like Infosys Technologies, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI, MTNL and ACC staged a handsome rally on the bourses, dealers said.

Besides, these few strong counters, Gujarat Ambuja, L&T, ITC, BSES, Grasim also posted hefty gains during the day, they said.

According to marketmen, foreign funds, domestic institutional investors and local operators made considerable purchases in fundamentally strong counters.

Reflecting the bullish phase, the Sensex opened at 5585.38 points, up by nearly 111 points from the previous close. Surpassing the 5600 level, it touched the day's high of 5647.64 points, 21 points less from the all-time-intra-day-high of 5668 of January 10, 2000. The Sensex closed at 5610.56 points, showing a net gain of 136.56 points as against the previous close of 5474.00 points.

The broad-based BSE-100 index too advanced by 25.51 points at 3206.56 points from the previous close of 3181.05 points.

With today's gain, the Sensex has so far gained over 300 points in the last two trading sessions.

According to market analysts, today's huge gain was unexpected in view of the last day of the weekly trading cycle at the NSE. However, the last day factor at the NSE has not dampened enthusiasm of the participants, they said.

Meanwhile, the technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index closed for the first time above 4,300, advancing 77.63 points or 1.83 per cent, to 4321.77 points on Tuesday. Although the domestic markets here registered massive gains on line with Nasdaq, markets in Tokyo, London, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich witnessed weak spell with major stock indices reporting moderate losses over their previous levels.

According to analysts, the major gainers of the day were Visualsoft, Ravalgaon Sugar, BFL Software, VSNL, Essel Packaging, Shyam Telecom, Maars Software, SmithKline Consumers, Tata Elxi, Satyam Computers, Madras Cement, Hughes Software, Aptech, Zee and Morepan Labs.

The major losers' list includes Leading Edge, Mindtek, Mastek, KLG Systel, Sierra Optima, Sri Adhikari, Mico, Fujitsu, ICIM, PSI Data, Atco Industries, Gramophone, Crest Communications, Electrosteel Castings and CMC.

Among other indices at the BSE, the BSE-200 and Dollex indices closed higher by 2.79 and 1.00 points at 703.96 and 268.69 points as against their previous close of 701.17 and 267.69 points.

The BSE-500 index rose by 6.23 points at 2112.02 points from the previous close of 2105.79 points.

The BSE clocked total turnover of Rs 55.21 billion, Zee Telefilms topped the list of turnover by registeing highest turnover of Rs 7.03 billion, followed by Satyam Computers Rs 5.79 billion, Pentafour Software Rs 4.43 billion, Himachal Futuristic Communications Rs 3.45 billion, Global Telesystems Rs 2.72 billion, Silverline Rs 2.02 billion.

Other actively traded counters were Infosys Technologies, Digital Equipment, Reliance, Ranbaxy, L&T, NIIT, HCL Infosys, ITC and SSI Limited.

The bull run which began yesterday continued today at the NSE, pushing the share prices upward. The Nifty closed at an all-time high of 1666 today.

The last day of the current weekly settlement failed to arrest the bull run with punters and institutional investors making heavy purchases in select shares like infotech, telecom and infrastructure.

The rally was led by Infosys Technologies and followed by MTNL, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI, ACC, Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja, L&T, ITC and BSES, dealers said and added that the continuous uptrend in the Nasdaq market added fuel to the ongoing bullish phase in the local market.

The 30-share BSE Sensex too recorded an all-time high of 5610.10 points and registered a handsome gain of 136 points from the previous close.

Mirroring the trend, the S&P CNX Nifty Index opened at 1636.60 points which happens to be the day's low, touched the day's high of 1676.10 points, before closing at 1666, showing a net gain of 26.15 points from the previous close of 1636.60 points.

It was on January 4, 2000 that the Nifty posted the previous all-time high of 1638.07 points.

Among other indices, the S&P CNX 500 and Defty indices moved in opposite directions and closed at 1437.95 points, lower by 0.44 points from the previous close of 1438.39 points and the Defty at 1321.15 points, higher by 20.80 points from the previous close of 1300.35 points.

The Midcap-200 ended lower by 9.10 points at 1288.02 points from the previous close of 1297.12 points.

Total turnover on the NSE reported during the day was Rs 59.74 billion.

Zee Telefilms topped the list of turnover by regsitering the highest turnover of Rs 8.41 billion, followed by Pentafour Software Rs 6.00 billion, Square D Software Rs 4.54 billion, Himachal Futuristic Communications Rs 3.03 billion.

Other actively traded counters were Silverline, Global Telesystems, Rolta, Reliance, Infosys Technologies, Digital Equipment, HCL-HP and Ranbaxy.

The top five S&P CNX Nifty gainers were ACC Rs 205.55 (Rs 190.30), ICICI Rs 167.30 (Rs 154.90), M&M Rs 546.35 (Rs 505.85), MTNL Rs 301.70 (Rs 279.35) and L&T Rs 462.15 (Rs 428). The top five losers were NIIT Rs 2959.45 (Rs 3149.40), Hindalco Rs 777.30 ( Rs 821.95), IPCL Rs 100.05 (Rs 104.50), Cochin Refineries Rs 125.40 (Rs 130.10) and Hero Honda Rs 962.50 (Rs 995.35).

UNI

Business