Sensex closes ahead of Dow Jones at 11,183.48 pts

Mumbai, Mar 29: It was another all time high close for the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) at 11,183.48 with a gain of 97.45 points on the back of all round buying.

The 30 share Senstive Index (Sensex) today went ahead of US' Dow Jones Industrial Average at 11,154 points as it touched a high of 11,157.75 in the early morning trade and it touched an all time high of 11,197.64 points.

Sensex opened with a gain of 17 points at 11,103, as compared to the last close of 11,086 and never looked back.

With Rs 550.20 crore foreign fund inflow on Monday in the equity markets reported by market regulator SEBI, the markets sentiments were bullish.

US Federal Reserves hiked the interest rates by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent yesterday and the US markets lower closing didn't come in the way of bull run in the Indian markets.

At the same time the Japanese market index Nikkei was up by 1.5 per cent closing just below 17,000 mark at 16,938 points as US rate hike was likely to boost Japanese exports to US.

Taking a cue the BSE IT and TECk indices too gained as much as 2.42 per cent and 2.12 per cent respectively, on expectations of better earning from exports to US.

Health care index was up too by 1.27 per cent for similar export related benefits for Indian drug companies after interest rate hike in US.

The BSE smallcap index was up too by 2.05 per cent and BSE Midcap index was too up by 1.04 per cent.

Ranbaxy today announced acquisition of 96.7 per cent stake in sixth largest Romanian generic drug company, Terapia, which boosted the Ranbaxy stock by 3.36 per cent to Rs 411.15 at the time of close.

The top gainers on the Sensex were-Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Satyam Computer, Hindalco, Ranbaxy, Infosys, Wipro, BHEL, ONGC, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Cipla.

The top losers on the Sensex were-Tata Power, NTPC, Bajaj Auto, HLL, Hero Honda, Tata Motors and ACC.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index closed was trading at 3,354.20 with a gain of 29.20 points, as compared to the last close of 3,325.

In the telecom pack after huge rise in MTNL, today it was a day for Tata managed Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited(VSNL) to gain by 9.92 per cent or Rs 42.55 at Rs 471.40. It was the day for the sugar stocks to rise again on the back of expected price hike, Sakthi Sugar, Balrampur Chini, Bajaj Hindustan were gainers.

Era Constructions got listed on the NSE today at Rs 310 as against the issue price of Rs 292.30 of Rs 10 share. The scrip touched a high of Rs 311.20 and a low of Rs 287. Finally it closed flat at Rs 292.80.

Volumes were moderate with 3.5 lakh shares traded during the day.

The top gainers on the Sensex today were led by Gujarat Ambuja Cements closing above Rs 100 at Rs 103.05 with maximum gain of 3.78 per cent. Satyam Computers closed 3.64 per cent up at Rs 850.50; Hindalco closed 3.47 per cent up at Rs 179.10; Infosys closed above Rs 3,000 at Rs 3,038.10 with a gain of 2.70 per cent; Wipro too gained by 2.60 per cent closing at Rs 542.50.

BHEL closed 1.89 per cent up at Rs 2,149.95; HDFC Bank closed 1.16 per cent up at Rs 749.95; ICICI bank closed 0.99 per cent up at Rs 598.05 and Cipla closed 0.89 per cent up at Rs 637.25.

Among the Sensex losers Tata Power lost maximum of 1.10 per cent; NTPC too lost 0.51 per cent at Rs 135.25; Bajaj Auto closed 0.39 per cent down at Rs 2,719.20; Hindustan Lever closed 0.39 per cent lower at Rs 266.65. Other marginal losers were Hero Honda, Tata Motors and ACC.

The market breadth was positive and the advance- decline ratio was of 2:1 with 1653 scrips advancing versus 840 scrips declining.

UNI