Sensex opens firm at 14,071.27 pts

Mumbai, Feb 23 (UNI) The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today resumed firm at 14,071.27 points as against the previous day's close of 14,021.31 points on fresh speculative demand from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and domestic mutual funds, brokers said.

The Sensex has, however, slipped below the psychological 14,000 level, as a sell-off gripped the index pivotals. It was down 51.64 points to 13,969.23.

The Sensex had yesterday fallen sharply close to 160 points in the last 45 minutes of trade due to heavy unwinding of derivatives on account of expiry. Its low for the day was 13,967.93 points.

ITC was the top loser, down 2.44 per cent, to Rs 169.80 on a volume of 1.67 lakh shares.

The other prominent losers were SBI (down 1.80 per cent to Rs 1060.40), Grasim (down 1.69 per cent to Rs 2375) and Cipla (down 1.26 per cent to Rs 244.50).

Satyam Computers was the top gainer, up 1.93 per cent to Rs 468.25. As many as 75,986 shares had changed hands in the counter.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL), however, anchored the market. The scrip was up 1.65 per cent to Rs 1437.15 on a volume of 1.52 lakh shares.

Power Finance Corporation (PFC) was trading at Rs 107.15 on National Stock Exchange (NSE), a premium of 26 per cent over the IPO price of Rs 85. The stock debuted at Rs 113, hit a low of Rs 106, and a high of Rs 119.40.

Volumes in the stock were abnormally high at 2.1 crore shares on NSE just in the first few minutes of trade.

The IPO had received a strong response from the investors. It was subscribed 77.24 times amidst heavy bidding by FIIs and was priced at the upper end of the Rs 73-Rs 85 price band. NSE has also included the stock in the futures and options segment. The lot size of PFC in the derivative segment is 2,400.

The market is expected to remain subdued in the run up to the Union Budget 2007-08 to be presented in Parliament on February 28.

The budget session of Parliament begins today.

The bourses are cautious, which is evident from the market-breadth.

Traders expect the Finance Ministry to give a big impetus to agriculture and infrastructure in the budget.

The Asian markets edged lower on profit-taking today. Key indices in Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea were down between 0.01 and 0.7 per cent. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.1 per cent.

US blue-chip stocks declined yesterday over a jump in oil prices and worries about inflation. But a rally in chipmakers' stocks helped the Nasdaq advance late in the session to end at a six-year high.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 52.39 points, or 0.41 per cent, to end at 12,686.02 points, with only eight of the 30 stocks in the Dow finishing higher.

The Standard&Poor's 500 Index dipped 1.25 points, or 0.09 per cent, to finish at 1,456.38. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 6.52 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 2,524.94, its highest close since 15 February 2001, brokers added.

UNI