Sensex closes higher at 14,131.34 pts

Mumbai,Jan 17 (UNI) The Sensex today went up by a modest 16.61 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), closing firm at 14,131.34 points on sustained speculative demand from Foreign Institutional Investors (FII's) and mutual funds.

The market ended with marginal gains, as buying interest continued. Shares from the banking and capital goods sector were in demand. The 30-shares BSE Sensex rose 16.61 points, to end at 14,131.34. It had opened higher, at 14,116.25 points, as buying continued after Wipro announced sound results. The benchmark index also struck a high of 14,185.12, with the low being 14,089.63.

The BSE BANKEX and CG indices also advanced by 80.77 points and 77.56 points respectively, closing at 7499.77 points for BANKEX index and for CG index at 9438.66 points, followed by SML CAP index by 72.49 points and quoted at 7577.93 points. MID CAP index was up by 37.61 points and touched 6118.71 points, CD index by 26.88 points and closed at 3901.13 points and HC index was up by 23.41 points and touched 3924.47 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE was down by 4.15 points, to settle at 4,076.45 points from it last close of 4080.50 points before it resumed high at 4084.90 points. It recorded a high at 4096.75 points and a low at 4071.55 points.

The market-breadth was strong on BSE, as buying continued for small-cap and mid-cap stocks, with over 1.5 gainers for every single loser.

Analysts expect buying to shift to this space, anticipating robust results for the December quarter. Against 1,608 shares advancing, 1,054 declined, and 56 remained unchanged. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4719 crore, compared to Rs 4068 crore on Tuesday. Among the 30-Sensex pack, 15 advanced while the rest declined.

The Nikkei ended up 58.89 points, at 17,261.35. US blue-chips rose on Tuesday on earnings optimism, while the broader market ended little changed as gains were offset by a sharp drop in oil prices that hurt energy shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 26.51 points, or 0.21 per cent, at 12,582.59. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was up 1.17 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 1,431.90.

But the Nasdaq Composite Index was down 5.04 points, or 0.20 per cent, at 2,497.78.

Crude oil in New York plunged to the lowest price in more than 19 months after Saudi Arabia's oil minister rejected calls for more production cuts. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) must wait to assess the effect of supply curbs that start February one.

Crude price has plunged 16 per cent this year, leading Venezuela and Algeria to call OPEC for restraining output. Crude oil for February delivery fell USD 1.78, or 3.4 per cent, to USD 51.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close since 26 May 2005. Futures touched USD 50.53, the lowest intraday price since May 25, 2005. Prices were down 23 per cent from a year ago.

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