Sensex zooms 4 pc, Nifty up 3.65 pc on global cues

Mumbai, Feb 14: The sensitive index of Bombay Stock Exchange today zoomed four per cent while broader based Nifty index spurt over 3.65 per cent on strong global cues in the mid-morning trading session.

Resuming the day on a positive note over 17K level at 17,265.19, the benchmark Sensex touched an intra-day high at 17,604.26, gained 655.13 points from its previous close of 16,949.13, on extended buying interest across the sector. Similarly, the Nifty index of National Stock Exchange surged over 200 points to touch an intra-day high at 5,130.10 from its previous close at 4,929.45 in the mid-morning.

Global markets rose after a surprise increase in US retail sales helped to ease recession worries in the US economy. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in the green. Realty, oil&gas and power stocks were trading in an extremely positive zones, brokers said.

The market breadth was strong. All the 30 stocks from the Sensex pack gained. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up by 3.26 per cent at 7,305.99, while the BSE Small-Cap was up 2.54 per cent at 9,279.71, in the early trade.

Frontliners, Reliance Industries rose 4.82 per cent at Rs 2405, ICICI Bank rose 3.71 per cent to Rs 1140, Larsen&Toubro rose 4.07 per cent to Rs 3419.70.

Hindustan Unilever gained 6.71 per cent, Bharat Heavy Electricals was up 5.20 per cent, DLF up 4.91 per cent, HDFC Bank up 4.65 per cent, Hindalco Industries up 4.50 per cent and Reliance Energy up 4.81 per cent, led the positive rally in the market.

Reliance Power was today in the group of gainers, 2.05 per cent up to Rs 358.60 on volume of 10.34 lakh shares on BSE.

As per provisional data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth Rs 9.40 crore on February 13, 2008. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were net buyers of shares worth Rs 23.59 crore on that day.

UNI