Sensex opens firm at 13,452.69 pts, up by 70 pts

Mumbai, Dec 20: The BSE Sensex today resumed high at 13,452.69points with a handsome gain of 70 points from its last close of13,382.01 points on fresh speculative demand from FIIs and localinvestors, brokers said.

The Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) Sensitive Index (Sensex) surged inopening trade tracking firm Asian markets following Thailandgovernment's late night decision on Tuesday to partially roll backcurrency control measures. IT, telecom and auto shares edged higher.

After the opening session, Sensex was up 165 points at 13,547. Ithit a high of 13,568.09 at intra morning session. The current indexdeclined sharply by 102.94 points and quoted at 13,279.07 points fromit last close on profit booking by local operators.

Meanwhile, the S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE also slipped by 30points and quoted at the present level of 3802.05 points. Earlier, itopened flat at 3832.15 points. The Nifty index recorded a high and alow at 3883.15 and 3795.75 points during the intra morning session.

Thailand will exclude equities investments from a central bankmeasure aimed at curbing speculation in the baht, Thailand's FinanceMinister Pridiyathorn Devakula said on Tuesday after the stock marketsuffered its worst fall in 16 years. The news sent Thailand's stockmarket up 8.8 per cent at the opening on Wednesday.

The Thai Government decision to partially roll back currencycontrol measures lifted Asian markets. Key benchmark indices in HongKong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 0.6per cent to 1.5 per cent on Wednesday.

Real estate developer Sobha Developers was trading at Rs 995 inearly trade on BSE, a premium of 55 per cent compared to IPO price ofRs 640. The stock came off from higher level after it had surged to ahigh of Rs 1179. 12.5 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE.The stock made its debut on the bourses today.

Software shares recovered. TCS rose 1.6 per cent to Rs 1,160,Wipro gained 1.4 per cent to Rs 575 and Infosys rose nearly one percent to Rs 2,176.

Telecom stocks edged higher. Reliance Communications rose one percent to Rs 456 and Bharti Airtel gained 1.1 per cent to Rs 611.

Auto shares moved higher. Tata Motors gained 1.3 per cent to Rs874.50, Bajaj Auto rose one per cent to Rs 2574 and Hero Honda addednearly one per cent to Rs 760.

Cement major ACC advanced two per cent to Rs 1038 and cigarettemajor ITC rose 2 per cent to Rs 171.85. Reliance Industries gained 1.1per cent to Rs 1267.50.

US crude oil for January delivery rose 94 cents, or 1.5 percent,to settle at USD 63.15 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange onTuesday. The rise in oil prices was attributed to expectations that UScrude inventories fell in the past week due to shipping delays alongthe coast of the Gulf of Mexico. US oil inventory data will be releasedon Wednesday, brokers added.

UNI

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