Sensex up by 306 pts, closes higher at 13,487.16

Mumbai, Dec 14 (UNI) The Sensex staged a smart recovery, gaining 305.82 points on the Bombay Stock Exchnge today and closed higher at 13,487.16 on sustained heavy speculative demand in few select scrips from FIIs and local institutional investors.

Market extended its gains for the second straight day due to heavy buying in index pivotals. The 30-shares BSE Sensex surged 305.82 points (2.32 per cent), to end at 13,487.16. It had opened firm, at 13,256.81, as buying continued following a 186-point rally on Wednesday. The Sensex had surged to a fresh intra-day high of 13,524.77, its low for the day being 13,239.79.

The BSE CG and SML CAP indices shot up by 210.38 and 200.78 points respectively and closed at 9163.77 points for CG index and for SML CAP index at 6594.52 points, followed by BANKEX index by 173.63 and touched 6899.32 points. MID CAP index was up by 139.61 points and quoted at 5616.97, IT index shot up by 134.20 closing at 5127.59 points, PSU index by 123.83 and touched 5911.33 points, OIL&GAS index was up by 112.64 points and closed at 5981.57 points and TECK index was up by 93.63 points and touched 3552.88 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE advanced around 78 points (2.07 per cent), to settle at 3843.05 points. Before it resumed flat at 3765.70 points. The Nifty index recorded a high and low at 3855.05 and 3763.50 points respectively in intra day session.

The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,355 crore. The market-breadth was rock solid as a host of small-cap and mid-cap counters rallied on high volumes. For 2,048 shares rising on BSE, just 487 declined.

As many as 60 shares were unchanged.

The Nikkei average rose 0.82 per cent to its highest close in more than seven months on Thursday, as exporters, including Sony Corp, climbed on a weaker yen and strong US retail sales data. The Nikkei rose 136.27 points, to 16,829.20, rising for the fourth straight session to hit the highest close since 11 May 2006. Hang Seng index was up 1.07 per cent.

US stocks closed little changed on Wednesday as surprisingly strong retail sales data raised hopes for the holiday season, offsetting a rise in oil prices that hurt industrial shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average advanced 1.92 points, or 0.02 per cent, to end at 12,317.50. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index rose 1.65 points, or 0.12 per cent, to finish at 1,413.21.

The Nasdaq Composite Index eked out a gain of just 0.81 of a point, or 0.03 per cent, to close at 2,432.41.

US crude oil futures for January delivery rose 35 cents to settle at USD 61.37 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday, after government data showed crude inventories fell more than expected in the latest week. NYMEX January crude futures hit a session high at USD 61.85.

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