BSE Sensex surges by 359.93 points

Mumbai, Nov 30: The Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index today closed positive at 19,363.19 with a big gain of 359.93 points on heavy speculative buying support from FIIs and domestic financial institutional investors.

The market rally was led by IT, banking, metal and realty stocks.

Robust Q2 GDP growth data, which was released by the government today, boosted the market sentiment.

Reliance Energy also surged ahead. The market breadth was strong.

26 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in green. European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were trading firm. Key Asian markets, except China, were in positive territory.

The gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 8.9 per cent in the second quarter ended on September 30 2007, which was below a robust 9.3 pc growth recorded in the first quarter ended June 2007.

The wholesale price index rose by 3.21 pc in the 12 months to 17 November 2007, above the previous week's rise of 3.01 pc, government data released today indicated. The annual inflation rate was 5.56 pc during the corresponding week of the previous year. In Europe, key indices in UK, France and Germany were up between 0.62 pc to 0.83 pc. Asian stocks extended gains today, after comments yesterday by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reinforced expectations that the US central bank was willing to lower interest rates again at the December 11 meeting. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 0.57 pc to 1.65 pc. But China's Shanghai Composite index was down 2.63 pc. US stocks ended nearly flat yesterday and the dollar stayed off its record lows against the Euro.

As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 1112.96 crore in the spot market yesterday. Domestic institutions bought shares worth a net Rs 606.25 crore.

FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,693.39 crore in the futures&options segment yesterday.

FIIs were also net buyers of index futures to the tune of Rs 1,575.15 crore and bought index options worth Rs 717.42 crore. They were net buyers of stock futures worth Rs 402.43 crore and sold stock options worth Rs 1.61 crore.

The market has been volatile over the past few days due to alternate bouts of buying and selling amid FII sales, caused by redemption pressure in their home countries and fears of a US recession arising from US housing slump and credit crisis, brokers said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened higher at 19,136.12 points. Later, the Sensex hit a high of 19,424.99 in late trade. At day's high, the Sensex gained 421.73 points from its last close. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE was up 128.15 points or 2.27 pc to 5762.75 at the end of the session from its last close of 5634.60 points. The Nifty index resumed flat at 5633.90. later it recorded a high at 5782.55 and a low at 5632.65 points during the session.

The BSE Mid-Cap index ended up by 2.33 pc to 8,557.49. The BSE Small-Cap index ended up by 1.27 pc to 10,521.21.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 8416 crore compared to yesterday's Rs 7677 crore.

India's largest private sector firm by market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries rose by 1.23 pc to Rs 2853 on reports it plans to spend Rs 17000 crore on exploration in the next few years.

ICICI Bank was up by 1.53 pc to Rs 1177, off day's low of Rs 1192, while Infosys Technologies gained by 1.94 pc to Rs 1600. The company expects to maintain margins in coming quarters and the US subprime crisis had not hit IT spending by US clients, T. V. Mohandas Pai, Infosys' director for human resources said yesterday. He further said Infosys has successfully coped with the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar.

The BSE IT index rose by 2.87 pc to 4,203.10, followed by TCS by 3.81 pc to Rs 1013.95, Wipro by 2.18 pc to Rs 460.30, Satyam Computers by 3.37 pc to Rs 439.95 and HCL Technologies by 2.19 pc to Rs 320.25, DLF by 6.57 pc to Rs 939.75, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) by 3.95 pc to Rs 2794, Satyam Computer by 3.62 pc to Rs 441 and TCS by 3.20 pc to Rs 1008.

But Ambuja Cements fell by 1.19 pc to Rs 149.50, followed by Hindustan Unilever by 1.45 pc to Rs 207.15, Bajaj Auto by 0.71 pc to Rs 2705 and Bharat Heavy Electricals by 0.18 pc to Rs 2682.

The BSE Metal index jumped by 4.97 pc to 17,710.88. Copper makers surged. after copper prices hit a two-week high on the London Metal Exchange yesterday, on hopes that lower US interest rates would help boost economic growth as well as demand for industrial metals.

Hindalco gained by 2.05 pc to Rs 184.60 and Sterlite Industries jumped by 12.72 pc to Rs 1036 The BSE Realty index moved up by 3.66 pc to Rs 10,597.96, and the BSE Bankex rose by 2.02 pc to 10,815.58, brokers added.

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