Sensex opens high at 13,011.37, up by 16 pts

Mumbai, Dec 13 (UNI) The BSE Sensex today opened high at 13,011.37 with a modest gain of around 16 points from its last close of 12,995.02 on fresh speculative demand by FIIs and domestic investors.

The bourses were extremely volatile in opening trade. At 1020 hrs the Sensex was down by 28 points, at 12,966.

After opening positive at 13,039.02, the Sensex had lost 164.64 points, plummeting to 12,830.38. The BSE benchmark then staged a solid rebound to reach 13,106.63 at 1011 IST, which was a gain of 111.63 points for the day. It has once again slipped into the red shortly.

Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE resumed flat at 3716.75 points, later it recorded a high of 3745.30 points and low of 3657.65 points in mid-morning session. The current index is quoted low at 3693.35 with a modest loss of 23 or 0.63 per cent from its previous day's close of 3716.90 points.

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.5 per cent to Rs 1,225, after the government on Tuesday approved its plan for a USD 5.2 billion deep-sea gas field, which will pump 80 million cubic metres per day.

Reliance Communications hiked 3.3 per cent to Rs 416.80. Reliance Communications is in talks to team up with three US private equity groups for buying the Indian mobile phone operations of Hutchison Telecommunications International, in a deal worth more than USD 14 billion, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements rose two per cent to Rs 133. As many as 1.6 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.

State Bank of India gained 1.3 per cent to Rs 1,196 and ICICI Bank gained 1.2 per cent to Rs 816.

Oil exploration major ONGC lost three per cent to Rs 778. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, US crude oil for January delivery fell 20 cents, or 0.33 per cent, to settle at USD 61.02 per barrel yesterday.

IT stocks were subdued. Wipro shed 1.7 per cent to Rs 550, TCS shed 1.3 per cent to Rs 1,104 and Infosys lost 0.4 per cent to Rs 2,154.

Asian markets were mostly in the red. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan were down between 0.2 - 1.4 per cent.

US stocks slipped on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged as expected, but its statement acknowledged a substantial cooling off in the housing market.

The Dow Jones industrial average declined 12.90 points (0.10 per cent) to clsoe at 12,315.58. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index slipped 1.48 points (0.10 per cent) to finish at 1,411.56. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 11.26 points (0.46 per cent) to close at 2,431.60, brokers said.

UNI AR MJ AW1157