BSE Sensex ends up 240.22 points

Mumbai, Dec 3: The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive Index climbed 240.22 points to close at 19,603.41 with a gain of 1.24 per cent on sustained buying interest in some index pivotals today.

The Sensex opened on a firm note, up by about 184 points at 19,547.09 as compared to previous close of 19,363.19. It touched a day's high 19,619.44 and a low of 19,446.68 in volatile trade during the day, dealers said.

Similarly, the broader based National Stock Exchange index Nifty ended 102.25 points at 5,865.00 as compared to previous close of 5,762.75. Nifty opened at 5,765.45 today during the early trade and later crossed the limit of 5,800 to touch day's high of 5,878.80, gaining about 125 points from its day's low 5,754.60 before closing firm in late trade.

Some major index pivotal including Reliance Industries traded strong in the bourses today. IT, Wipro, TCS and Satyam Computer ended in green. European markets turned negative after a positive start and Asian markets showed a mixed trend. 24 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack ended in green.

Market breadth was strong on BSE on the back of strong demand for small-cap and mid-cap shares. 2071 stocks advanced, 715 stocks declined and 60 stocks remained unchanged on BSE. It clocked a turnover of Rs 9264 crore compared to previous turnover of Rs 8,457.32 crore.

Among the sectorial index on BSE, consumer durables had 6.83 per cent gain, while Metal, Oil&Gas and Power index registered upswing of 3 to 3.5 per cent. Reliance Industries ended up 2.60 pc to Rs 2928.90, off day's low of Rs 2850.

Bankex slid by 0.05 per cent as India's largest private sector bank ICICI Bank was down 1.24pc to Rs 1170, off day's high of Rs 1183.25. Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) fell 1.31pc to Rs 2748.10, HDFC Bank declined 0.76pc to Rs 1706.

Reliance Energy spurted 9.26pc to Rs 1901, Reliance Commnications jumped 6.26pc to Rs 717.10, Wipro soared 7.54 per cent to Rs 495 and TCS rose 3.37 per centto Rs 1048.15. Hindalco Industries gained 3.62pc to Rs 192.

As per provisional data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 1072.07 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 688.34 crore on previous day of trading.

FIIs sold equities worth Rs 5,849.90 crore during the month of November.

On cumulative basis, FIIs were net buyers of equities to the tune of Rs 65,907.30 crore in 2007 so far.

UNI