Sensex soars to new high of 10,237 despite raid hiccups

Mumbai, Feb 22 (UNI) Undeterred by the CBI raids on stock broking firms and offices of individual brokers today which pulled down the BSE Sensex to 10,157 pts at one stage, the key index surged to a new high later closing above the 10,200 mark for the first time.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex) touched a new high of 10,237 points in day's trading before closing at a new all-time high of 10,224.32, with a gain of 56.21 points.

However, there was a dip on the Sensex to 10,157 points as CBI conducted raids on premises of some brokers, Bharat Overseas Bank and Vijaya Bank in Delhi, Mumbai and Ahmedabad in connection with the IPO scam.

The markets were rather calmer in the run to the Union Budget with low volatility, which was against the expectations.

The infotech, automobiles, banks and consumer durable indices of the BSE ended in the red ahead of the future&options (F&O) expiry tomorrow, the last Thursday of the month.

The BSE sectoral indices with good gains were metals, PSUs, helath care and capital goods.

BSE smallcap companies index ended 0.77 per cent lower whereas the midcap index ended flat with loss of 0.11 per cent.

The top Sensex gainers were NTPC, Cipla, Hindustan Lever, HDFC, BHEL, Tata Power, Ranbaxy, Tata Steel, Grasim Industries and Hindalco.

The blue chips losing on the Sensex were Dr Reddy's Lab, Larsen&Toubro, Bajaj Auto, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, ITC, Infosys Technologies, Bharti Tele, Hero Honda, SBI and Maruti.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE)'s Nifty index closed 15.30 points up at 3,050.80 points, as compared to last close of 3,035.50.

The 50-share Nifty was trading 10 points up at 3,045 at 1445 hrs.

Jagran Prakashan Ltd, the publishers of Hindi daily 'Dainik Jagran', made its debut on the stock markets today. On the National Stock Exchange (NSE) the Jagran scrip listed with a premium of 12.50 per cent whereas on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) it was listed with a premium of 17.15 per cent.

The scrip opened at Rs 361 per share against the fixed issue price of Rs 320 per share of Rs 10 value on the NSE.

However, the scrip traded with loss during the day dipping to a low of Rs 265.10 on the NSE and finally closed at Rs 270.50 with loss of 15.47 per cent or Rs 49.50.

The turnover was huge on NSE with 1.71 crore shares worth Rs 496 crore changing hands.

In a wild swing, the Jagran scrip saw a drop of Rs 126.90 on the NSE from the day's high of Rs 392 to a low Rs 265.10.

On the BSE, the scrip opened at Rs 376 and touched a high of Rs 405 but later dipped to a low of Rs 268.15 and finally closed at Rs 273.65 with.On the BSE too it fell by Rs 137.85 from a high of Rs 405 to a low of Rs 268.15 in the intra-day trading.

More than 1.29 crore shares changed hands on the BSE.

''The growth in circulation was going to be limited in future with the group already enjoying a high circualtion number and further increase in circulation could come only where advertisers wanted,'' Jagran Prakashan CMD Mahendra Mohan Gupta said.

The crude oil prices stayed above USD 60 per barrel at 61.10 per barrel in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) which did keep markets in a check.

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