Sensex surges 132 pc to 10,607 in afternoon trading

Mumbai, May 23 (UNI) After a sudden dip of 400 points in the morning session, the BSE Sensex was trading at 10,607 at 1342 hrs, showing a gain of 132 points from the previous close of 10,481.77 points.

Earlier, the BSE Sensex this morning touched a low of 10,185.48, after opening at 10,590.67 points and touching an intra-session peak of 10,647.70 points.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty index has also risen by 11.80 point to 3,094.4, as compared to the last close of 3,081.35 points.

The major sectoral indices were trading flat as NSE CNX IT was down by 2.70 per cent to 3,801.55; S&P CNX 500 index, however, saw a gain of 6.18 per cent to 2,611.3, whereas the CNX Midcap 200 traded with no change at 3,239.15.

The weaker global markets continued to hurt the Indian markets with Nasdaq closing down by 0.96 per cent, Dow Jones Industrial Average by 0.17 per cent; Hang Seng by 3.11 per cent and Nikkei by 0.39 per cent down.

The big losers on the Sensex this afternoon were Hero Honda, down by 5.46 per cent at Rs 770; HDFC Bank down by 4.92 per cent at Rs 748; ONGC down by 4.13 per cent at Rs 1,166; TCS by 3.07 at Rs 1729.90 and Cipla by 3.35 per cent at Rs 218.

Some of the major gainers on the other hand were - Grasim industries, whose stocks rose by 4.40 per cent to Rs 1,834; NTPC by 3.04 per cent to Rs 115.10; Reliance Energy by 3.74 per cent to Rs 536 and TISCO by 2.82 per cent to Rs 486.15.

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has allayed fears of the FIIs and other small time investors, by stating that fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and there is nothing to panick.

In an interview to a television channel Mr Chidambaram said, ''Most of the mutual funds see a huge buying opportunity in the market, hence, it is ironical why the retail investors are not willing to remain invested.'' On the current situation in the Indian market, Morgan Stanley, Chief Asian Strategist Adrian Mowat said, ''Further corrections in the stock market will give valuation opportunities and the fair value for the Sensex would be fixed at 11,000 points.'' UNI VS GK NV1455