Sensex recovers by 345.65 pts, closes at 14,355

Mumbai,Feb 15: After the bearish phase for the last three days, the Sensex today recovered smartly on the Bombay Stock Exchange, surging by 345.65 points and closed positive at 14,355.55 on sustained heavy speculative demand from Foreign Institutional Investors (FII's) and Mutual Funds in the backdrop of firm global advices.

The market recovered convincingly from a recent major correction, tracking firm Asian markets and overnight gains in Indian ADRs.

Short-covering in derivatives ahead of next week's expiry of February 2007 derivatives contracts also aided the upsurge.

The recovery was broad-based with stocks across segments - small-caps, mid-caps and large-caps bouncing back. The market also shrugged-off data showing a surge in inflation to its highest level in more than two years.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index of the (BSE) resumed high at 14,107.09 points. Later, it recorded the day's high at 14,372.96 points and a low at 14,107.09 points in intra-day trading.

The BSE CG and METAL indices also jumped up sharply by 301.13 points and 258.25 points respectively. They closed firm at 9639.90 points for CG index and for METAL index at 8876.23 points, followed by SML CAP index by 222.44 points and quoted at 7290.26 points, BANKEX index by 205.83 touching 7182.71 points, IT index by 203.00 points and quoted at 5565.70 points, AUTO index by 156.54 and touched at 5635.89 points, MID CAP index by 152.99 points and touched at 5953.01 points, TECK index by 140.33 points and closed at 3923.29 points and OIL&GAS by 108.81 points and closed at 6705.34 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE also rose smartly by 99.10 points and closed firm at 4146.20 points before it resumed flat at 4046.80 points. Later, it registered the day's high at 4155.70 points and a low at 4046.80 points.

The market-breadth was quite strong. Against 2,121 shares rising on BSE, 525 declined. Just 33 shares were unchanged. The BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4,275 crore.

Asian markets were firm today. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea were up by between 0.5 per cent to 2.2 per cent.

US stocks and bonds had surged yesterday, with the Dow Jones climbing to an intra-day record, after Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Mr Ben Bernanke said the economy was growing and inflationary pressures were starting to ease.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose by 87.01 points, or 0.69 per cent, to end at 12,741.86. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index gained 11.04 points, or 0.76 per cent, to finish at 1,455.30.

The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced by 28.50 points, or 1.16 per cent, to close at 2,488.38, off the session's high at 2,494.51.

Nymex crude was up slightly by 14 cents, at USD 58.14, brokers said.

Auto shares held firm after the government announced a cut of Rs 2 per litre in petrol prices and Re 1 per litre in diesel. Ashok Leyland surged by 5.4 per cent to Rs 46.20, M&M shot up by 5 per cent to Rs 900, Maruti Udyog gained 4 per cent to Rs 892 and Hero Honda gained 3.8 per cent to Rs 740.

Tata Motors rose by 1.8 per cent to Rs 866. Tata Motors and Fiat on Wednesday unveiled a USD 80 million agreement to build Tata pick-up trucks under the Fiat brand at the Italian carmaker's plant in Cordoba, Argentina, with annual production projected at 20,000 trucks next year. The news triggered a 2.1 per cent rise in the ADR on Wednesday, to USD 19.87.

IT shares edged higher tracking overnight gains in their ADRs.

Infosys was up by 4 per cent to Rs 2382 after its ADR increased 3 per cent on Wednesday to USD 59.20. Satyam Computer rose nearly 5 per cent to Rs 486.50, its ADR rose by nearly 4 per cent to USD 23.48 on Wednesday. Wipro gained 5 per cent to Rs 683. Its ADR rose 1.2 per cent to USD 17.92 on Wednesday.

L&T gained nearly 5 per cent to Rs 1693.90, on bargain-hunting after a sharp correction of late. The company has a robust order-book position.

A strong response to an IPO of the sixth largest cellular service provider, Idea Cellular, boosted telecom shares.

Reliance Communications gained by 3 per cent to Rs 466. Bharti Airtel gained by 3.6 per cent to Rs 789 despite cutting roaming charges. The Idea IPO was subscribed nearly 27 times and closed today.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) increased by 2.3 per cent to Rs 1410, extending a recent upmove. The upstream regulator said last Thursday that crude production from RIL's deepwater gas block, off the country's east coast, was commercially viable.

Bank shares shrugged off a rise in inflation. ICICI Bank gained nearly 4 per cent to Rs 951. The private sector bank's ADR rose 3.2 per cent on Wednesday to USD 43.61. HDFC Bank gained by 3 per cent to Rs 1048. HDFC Bank's ADR was up by 0.8 per cent to USD 71.83 on Wednesday.

However, Ranbaxy plunged 5 per cent to Rs 392.25 following reports that criminal investigators for the US Food&Drug Administration yesterday locked the headquarters of Ranbaxy USA.

UNI