Sensex advances, closes higher at 13,731.09 pts

Mumbai, Dec 18: The Sensex today closed higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange at 13,731.09 with a handsome gain of 116.57 points on sustained heavy speculative demand by Foreign Institutional Investors (FII's) and some local investors.

The Sensex staged a smart recovery after plunging to an intra-day low of 13416.40, on strong buying demand for index pivotals, especially index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL).

The buying interest intensified during the later half of the trading session, taking the Sensex to a fresh intra-day high of 13744.17.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex settled higher by 16.57 points at 13,731.09. It had opened 81.08 points higher at 13,695.60 as buying continued following 127-point rally last Friday.

The BSE OIL&GAS index shot up by 177.66 points and closed at 6151.24 points, followed by BANKEX index by 62.52 points and was quoted at 7057.30 points, AUTO index by 54.37 points touching at 5316.79 points. PSU index was up by 49.76 points and closed at 6017.58 points, SML CAP index was higher by 38.71 points and closed at 6706.62 points, HC index by 37.39 points and was quoted 3739.30 points. IT index was up by 22.47 points and closed at 5204.07 points.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 3772 crore. Market breadth turned positive, after initial weakness, as buying resumed for small-cap and mid-cap stocks. On BSE, 1321 shares advanced as compared to 1213 that declined. 79 shares remained unchanged.

Among the Sensex pack, 19 advanced while the rest declined.

Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE resumed flat at 3888.20 points. Later it recorded a high and low at 3934.00 and 3828.15 points during the intra day. The Nifty index closed high at 3928.75 points with a smart gain of 40.10 points from it last close of 3888.65 points.

Japan's Nikkei gained 0.28 per cent or 47.80 points at 16,962.11 with investors showing keen interest in Honda Motor Co. Ltd. on a softer yen. The Hang Seng index gained 0.43 per cent or 81.70 points to 19,192.35.

US stocks rose in heavy volume on Friday, pushing the Dow to a record as tame consumer prices reassured investors inflation was under control and economic growth was still strong enough to support profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 28.76 points, or 0.23 per cent, to end at 12,445.52. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index added 1.60 points, or 0.11 per cent, to finish at 1,427.09.

The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 3.35 points, or 0.14 per cent, to close at 2,457.20.

Oil prices fell in Asian trade on profit-taking after significant gains last week following OPEC's move to cut production further. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January delivery, was down 26 cents to USD 63.17 a barrel from USD 63.43 in the United States on Friday.

Meanwhile, RBI came out with a new capital market exposure norms for banks which would come into force from April 2007. In terms of the new guidelines, the exposure of a bank to the capital market cannot exceed 40 per centof its net worth as on March 31 of the previous year.

PSU oil exploration major ONGC was the top gainer, up by 4.44 per cent to Rs 852.60 on high volumes of 9.30 lakh shares, following reports that it has made a huge gas find in the Bay of Bengal, with initial estimates suggesting reserves of about 21 trillion cubic feet. The stock had surged to a high of Rs 867.70 in early trade.

Pharma major Ranbaxy Laboratories advanced by 4.27 per cent to Rs 390.80 on 7.03 lakh shares. Ranbaxy Laboratories entered into a collaborative agreement with the Department of Science&Technology (DST), Government of India, New Delhi, in the area of New Drug Discovery Research (NDDR). Under the agreement, DST will provide financial support by way of soft loans to the Company, to undertake NDDR activity.

Tata Motors gained 3.74 per cent to Rs 889.90 after it said on Monday, it had entered into a joint venture with Thailand's Thonburi to make pick-up trucks. The joint venture, to go on stream in a year's time, will facilitate its access the Thailand market, which is the 2nd largest pickup market in the world after the US. Both partners will jointly manage the operation.

Wipro (up 3.85 per cent to Rs 586), TCS (up 2.41 per cent to Rs 1184) and Hero Honda (up 1.74 per cent to Rs 743.30) advanced.

PSU engineering major Bhel was the top loser, down 4.54 per cent to Rs 2383 on 2.07 lakh shares. It moved in a broad range of Rs 2374 to 2523.

Reliance Energy (down 1.30 per cent to Rs 533), ACC (down 0.83 per cent to Rs 1050) and NTPC (down 1.82 per cent to Rs 140.50) edged lower.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) surged 3.29 per cent to Rs 1294.80 on 8.10 lakh shares. It had surged to a high of Rs 1297. It has paid advance tax of Rs 444 crore for the third instalment taking its total remittance this fiscal to Rs 1102 crore compared to Rs 848 crore paid in the same period last year.

Zee Telefilms, settled at Rs 272.40 on volumes of 34.41 lakh shares. It listed on BSE after its restructuring at Rs 249.

Most Asian markets were steady on Monday as traders awaited a Bank of Japan policy decision for clearer signals on the direction of Japanese interest rates. The central bank is expected to leave its key interest rate unchanged at 0.25 per cent. hence, the focus will be on clues on future policy direction. The Bank of Japan's two-day meeting ends on Tuesday, brokers said.

UNI

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