Sensex crosses 16,700 mark, 98 points up

Mumbai, Apr 24: The benchmark Sensex of BSE today crossed 16,700 barrier and it resumed a positive note at 16,796.26 points with a massive gain of 98.22 from its last close of 16,698.04 on fresh heavy speculative demand from FIIs and domestic institutional investors (DIIs), brokers said.

Asian markets were trading mixed today as Hang Seng was up 1.62 per cent at 25,699.18 followed by Shanghai Composite by 7.29 per cent to 3,517.39, Singapore's Straits Times by 0.62 per cent at 3,213.74, and South Korea's Seoul Composite by 0.21 per cent at 1,804.52 edged higher.

US markets advanced yesterday, as a range of technology companies posted strong results that showed the sector's resilience in the face of an economic slowdown. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 42.99 points, or 0.34 per cent to 12,763.22. The Standard&Poor's 500 index advanced 3.99 points, or 0.29 per cent to 1,379.93.

The Nasdaq Composite index rose 28.27 points or 1.19 per cent to 2,405.21 which helped to boost at Indian bources, stock-brokers pointed out.

However Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.06 per cent at 13,570.56 and Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted eased by 0.33 per cent at 8,978.47.

Later, the current 30-share BSE Sensex was up by 85.50 points or 0.51 per cent at 16,783.54.

Meanwhile, it advanced further to hit a high of 16,844.02 in early trade but it day's low of 16,742.30 hit in early trade.

The present broader based S &P CNX Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up 14.85 points or 0.30 per cent at 5,037.65.

However, it resumed flat at 5022.90 points. It recorded the day's high at 5072.70 and a low at 5022.90 points during the mid-morning session.

As per reports, marketwide rollover from April 2008 series to May 2008 series stood at 58-60 per cent by last Wednesday. Nifty rollover was at 62 per cent.

Top gainers were JP Associates, Bharti Airtel, Satyam, Tata Power and Hero Honda while losers were TCS, ACC, Hindalco and Tata Steel.

Reliance Petro, Mercator Lines, JP Associates, Reliance and IFCI were most active shares on the bourses.

Realty stocks outperformed the markets today, BSE Realty Index was up 1.4 per cent as DLF up by 0.8 per cent, Unitech up by 1.3 per cent, Indiabulls Real Estate rose 2.4 per cent and Anant Raj Ind was up 1.5 per cent.

BSE Teck, Capital Goods, Auto and Power indices were up 0.4-0.5 per cent.

HB Stock holdings rose by 4 per cent as the company increased stake in DCM Shriram Industries to 25.05 per cent.

Himatsingka Seide slipped nearly 5 per cent as sources said the company may face Rs 100 crore derivative losses.

The market breadth was strong on BSE with 1304 shares advancing as compared to 477 that declined. 34 remained unchanged.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 760 crore till mid-morning session.

India's biggest dam builder Jaiprakash Associates advanced by 3.45 per cent to Rs 251.80 on high volumes of 12.98 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack.

Bharti Airtel also was up by 1.83 per cent to Rs 860.15 followed by Satyam Computer Services by 1.75 per cent to Rs 438 and Hindustan Unilever by 1.32 per cent to Rs 245 were the other gainers from Sensex pack.

India's largest private sector company in terms of market capitalisation and oil refiner Reliance Industries (RIL) rose by 0.35 per cent to Rs 2,586.10.

India's largest software services exporter TCS slipped by 2.45 per cent to Rs 868. It was the top loser from Sensex pack.

ACC also was down by 1.23 per cent to Rs 834.10 followed by Tata Steel by 1.08 per cent to Rs 789 and State Bank of India by 0.65 per cent to Rs 1684.95 edged lower from Sensex pack.

IFCI surged by 4.31 per cent to Rs 64.15 on high early volumes of 57.65 lakh shares.

The near-term market will be driven by the quality of earnings rolled out by corporates in the coming days. Aggregate results of 245 companies showed 18.40 per cent rise in net profit on 31.60 per cent rise in net sales in Q4 March 2008 over Q4 March 2007. There was 35.80 per cent rise in net profit on 22.20 per cent rise in net sales in FY March 2008 over FY March 2007, brokers added.

UNI