Sensex surges by 87 pts, closes 13,471.74 pts

Mumbai, Dec 22: The Sensex moved up by 86.88 points today on the Bombay Stock Exchange and closed higher at 13,471.74 on sustained heavy speculative demand in select scrips by Foreign InstitutionaI Investors (FII's) and domestic investors.

The sensitive index of BSE hAs shot up by 130 points in the last two days. The market caught steam in the fag end of the trading session as buying intensified for index pivotals, with the BSE Sensex striking a fresh intra-day high of 13493.88.

The barometer index gained 86.88 points at 13,471.74. It opened firm at 13,398.13 following firm global markets. Its intra-day low was at 13,362.11.

The BSE METAL and CG indices jumped up sharply by 128.73 points and 106.11 points respectively and closed at 8837.89 points for METAL index and CG index at 8917.62 points, followed by OIL&GAS index by 64.78 points and was quoted at 6126.68 points. SML CAP index was up by 55.95 points and touched 6721.38 points, PSU index went up by 53.94 and closed at 5916.62 points and AUTO index by 44.22 points and closed at 5345.54 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE rose 37.65 points to 3871.15 at the end of the session before it resumed high at 3834.90 points. The Nifty index recorded a high at 3880.15 and a low at 3823.40 points during the intra day.

The market breadth was strong on BSE, with around 1.5 gainers for every loser, as buying interest was seen for small and midcap stocks. On BSE, 1501 shares advanced, as compared to 1069 that declined. 92 stayed unchanged. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4188.60 crore, as compared to Rs 4369 crore on Thursday. Among the Sensex pack, 22 advanced while the rest declined.

Most of the Asian markets were trading with gains on Friday.

The Nikkei average gained 0.34 per cent at 17,104.96, rising for the third straight session to the highest close since May 9. Hang Seng index was up 0.51 per cent to 19,320.52. The annual inflation rate was low at 4.39 per cent during the corresponding week of the previous year, data released on Friday indicated.

US stocks dropped on Thursday as concerns that economic growth could be slowing faster than expected dented optimism about corporate profits. Reports that showed a contraction in regional business activity and a downward revision in GDP data overshadowed a fresh flurry of corporate takeovers.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 42.62 points, or 0.34 per cent, to end at 12,421.25. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was down 5.22 points, or 0.37 per cent, to finish at 1,418.31.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was down 11.76 points, or 0.48 per cent, to close at 2,415.85.

Crude oil for February delivery was at USD 62.62 a barrel, down 4 cents, in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Singapore, brokers said.

Bike maker Hero Honda was the top gainer, up 3.74 per cent to Rs 755.10 on 24,370 shares. The stock moved in a broad range of Rs 728 to 759. Gujarat Ambuja Cements (up 3.16 per cent to Rs 137), L&T (up 2.92 per cent to Rs 1440) and Grasim (up 2.06 per cent to Rs 2718.10) were the other gainers.

Frontline IT stocks witnessed renewed buying interest. Wipro (up 3.02 per cent to Rs 575), Infosys (up 0.41 per cent to Rs 2170) and TCS (up 1.22 per cent to Rs 1150) advanced.

Tata Steel rose by 1.88 per cent to Rs 476.40 on 9.56 lakh shares. It had struck an intra-day high of Rs 479.95.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 0.85 per cent to Rs 1272 on 3.97 lakh shares.

ICICI Bank rose marginally by 0.05 per cent to Rs 855 after it borrowed USD one billion from overseas markets to fund credit growth. The yen-denominated syndicated loan is the largest by an Indian bank.The loan is split into three tranches of USD 350 million for 364 days, USD 450 million for two years and USD 200 million for three years.

But, car maker Maruti Udyog lost 0.42 per cent to Rs 922.10 after hitting a high of Rs 939. The government on Thursday decided to sell its remaining 10 per cent stake in the car major in favour of banks and financial institutions.

Satyam Computer was the top loser, down 1.03 per cent to Rs 461 on 6.83 lakh shares.

Tata Motors (down 0.81 per cent to Rs 858), ITC (down 0.76 per cent to Rs 169.45),and HLL (down 0.57 per cent to Rs 218.70) were the other losers.

Tech Mahindra was the most active counter on BSE with turnover of Rs 485.50 crore) followed by Sobha Developers (Rs 236.62 crore) and Great Offshore (Rs 204.39 crore).

Jindal Drilling&Industries settled at Rs 580 on BSE on 1.85 lakh shares. The stock hit a high of Rs 702 and low of Rs 505.

Jindal Drillings restructuring scheme involved amalgamation of two group companies Newsco Newtech and Discovery Hydrocarbons with the company, sub-brokers stated.

UNI

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