Sensex hits new high of 10,222 pts; Jagran debuts

Mumbai, Feb 22 (UNI) The benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) crossed the 10,200-mark barrier for the first time ever in the morning trade.

The 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) opened 11 points up at 10,179 and touched a new high of 10,222 in the first hour of trading.

The key index was trading at 10,220, a gain of 52 points at 1057 hrs.

However, in a rather calm market before the Union Budget the infotech and consumer durable scrips were trailing. The sectors trading with good gain were capital goods, metals and the PSUs.

Small and midcap companies were also trading in black.

Top Sensex gainers were Larsen&Toubro, Cipla, Hindustan Lever, ONGC, NTPC, Hindalco, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Ranbaxy and Satyam Computer.

The blue chips trailing on the Sensex were Dr Reddy's Lab, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Grasim Industries, Bajaj Auto and HDFC Bank.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE)'s Nifty index opened flat at 3,035 and touched a high of 3,055 points in the first hour of trade.

The 50-share Nifty was trading 19 points up at 3,054 at 1110 hrs.

Jagran Prakashan Ltd, publishers of Hindi daily 'Dainik Jagran', made its debut on the stock markets today. It opened at Rs 361 per share against the fix issue price of Rs 320 per share of Rs 10 value on the NSE.

The media scrip touched a high of Rs 392 and a low of Rs 290 during the first hour of trading. On NSE more than 62.41 lakh shares worth Rs 194 crore changed hands.

The crude oil prices stayed above USD 60 per barrel at 61.10 per barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) which might concern the investors.

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