Sensex resumes high at 12,740 pts, 61 pts up

{image-sensex, big_16072008.jpg news.oneindia.in}Mumbai, Jul 16: The benchmark Sensex of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Wednesday, July 16, resumed firm at 12,740.78 points with a gain of 61.59 from it last finish of 12,676.19 on fresh speculative demand from FIIs and some domestic institutional investors.

Buying in battered blue-chip stocks helped the key benchmark indices snap their three-day slide. Sharp fall in crude oil also boosted the sentiment. Asian markets rebounded after early slide and were mixed now. US markets ended mixed yesterday, 15 July 2008. Ranbaxy Labs surged, a leading broker said.

Later, the 30-share BSE Sensex was up 180.51 points or 1.42 per cent at 12,856.70. The Sensex opened high at 12,740.40 point and advanced further to touch a high of 12,935.25 in early trade. At the day's high, the Sensex rose 240.48 points. At the day's low of 12,757.49, the Sensex gained 81.30 points in early trade.

The broader based S &P CNX Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up 30.95 points or 1.80 per cent at 3,892.05 points.It resumed flat at 3861.55 points, later it recorded the day's high at 3920.05 and a low at 3861 points.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, August crude settled down USD 6.44, or 4.44 per cent, at $138.74 a barrel yesterday, 15 July 2008.

India's largest pharma company in terms of sales Ranbaxy surged 7.82 pc to Rs 441.25 on high volumes of 12.73 lakh shares, after the company's chief executive Malvinder Singh said in a televised conference that the deal with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo remains on track. The stock was the top gainer from the Sensex pack. India's largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries gained 2.03 pc at Rs 2017 on 2.04 lakh shares.

Banking shares which were hammered yesterday, recovered today HDFC Bank was up 1.93 per cent to Rs 932, ICICI Bank moved up 1.51 per cent to Rs 537.30, State Bank of India gained 1.29 per cent to Rs 1193,.HDFC rose 3.32 pc to Rs 1860, Reliance Infrastructure gained 3.14 per cent to Rs 791.80 and Satyam Computer Services moved up 3.21 per cent to Rs 411 edged higher from Sensex pack.

Grasim was the top loser from Sensex pack. The stock lost 2.89 per cent to Rs 1651.05 Tata Motors came down 2.72 per cent to Rs 393 and NTPC eased 0.92 per cent to Rs 160.85 edged lower from Sensex pack.

Sentiment may continue to remain cautious after the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday, 16 July 2008 said while the likelihood is high that the US economy would slow further, the outlook for inflation had also intensified, providing little comfort for investors and consumers struggling in stagflationary conditions.

Asian markets were trading mixed today. Key benchmark indices in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea were up by between 0.18 per cent and 0.46 per cent. However Taiwan Weighted index and Shanghai Composite lost 1.13 per cent and 2.39 per cent respectively, brokers added.

UNI