BSE ends on positive terrain; closes at 12,982.98

Mumbai, Mar 13: The Sensex today shot up by 80.35 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange to close in the green at 12,982.98 on sustained buying by Foreign Institutional Investor's (FII's).

The Sensex touched a high of 13,026.85 and a low of 12,817.62 in intra-day deals.

The Nifty Index also moved up by 35.95 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to end the day at 3,770.55 level from its previous close of 3734.60 points.

''FIIs have resumed buying after substantial sales in late February-early March 2007. As per provisional data, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 131 crore yesterday. They were net buyers to the tune of Rs 865 crore in the index-based futures too,'' market analysts reasoned.

''The markets would continue to be volatile till mid-April. It however, continues to witness selling pressure at higher levels. The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4177 crore,'' brokers opined.

''However, although mutual funds are sitting on cash, thanks to collections from some new fund offers, they continue to press sales in equities,'' another expert pointed out.

The market-breadth was strong on the BSE. There were over two gainers, for every losing scrip. Against 1,737 shares advancing, 845 declined and 80 remained unchanged. Among the 30-Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined.

In another important development, latest official data released today showed that industrial output jumped 10.9 per cent in January as compared to a year earlier, powered by surging consumption across sectors.

Economists said this meant that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) can be expected to tighten monetary policy once again in order to tackle inflation.

Economists expect the RBI to hike repo and reverse repo rates by 25 basis points at its April monetary policy meeting, while maintaining the cash reserve ratio (CRR) as they have shifted to MSS (market stabilisation scheme) auctions to suck out liquidity.

The data reveals that 16 out of 17 industry groups registered output growth in January 2007. Manufacturing is leading the charge, but unlike last year mining and electricity, too, have started making significant contributions.

Manufacturing rose 11.6 per cent in January against 9.4 per cent a year ago, while mining rose three-fold at 6 per cent from 2 per cent. The electricity sector grew by 8.5 per cent against 6.4 per cent in the same month last year. But the real turnaround was in mining, where production was up by 4.5 per cent against just 0.6 per cent during the first 10 months of the last financial year.

''The next trigger for the domestic bourses may come from global bourses. The US Federal Reserve holds a two-day meeting on March 20 and 21, to decide US interest rates. The latest US jobs data helped ease expectations of a possible rate cut by the Federal Reserve,'' experts said.

Grasim was the top gainer, up 2.26 per cent to Rs 2059.85, on a volume of 1.66 lakh shares.

Software stocks rose on renewed buying. Satyam Computers (up 1.67 per cent to Rs 449.80), Wipro (up 1.47 per cent to Rs 581.45) and TCS (up 2.10 per cent to Rs 1264) edged ahead.

India's largest private steel manufacturer, Tata Steel, advanced 1.91 per cent to Rs 444.50, on a volume of 9.63 lakh shares.

Index heavyweight RIL was up 0.66 per cent to Rs 1324.65. As many as 4.53 lakh shares changed hands in the counter on BSE. RIL said today it had made two new gas discoveries off the eastern coast of India. While one strike has been made in the Krishna-Godavari basin, the second find is located in the Mahanadi basin, off the Andhra coast.

''The commercial viability of the discoveries is now under evaluation. The recent discoveries demonstrate the further upside potential of the blocks in the Krishna-Godavari and Mahanadi basins,'' a RIL statement said.

Recently-listed MindTree Consulting spurted 11.72 per cent to Rs 871.10, extending a sharp surge from yesterday.

Meanwhile, FMCG major HLL was the top loser, down 2.68 per cent to Rs 180.05, on a volume of 7.50 lakh shares. It had slipped to a low of Rs 179.80.

Bharti Airtel (down 1.14 per cent to Rs 761), Infosys (down 0.67 per cent to Rs 2101) and REL (down 1.82 per cent to Rs 465.50) were the other losers.

Ranbaxy dropped 0.96 per cent to Rs 320.70, after Pfizer, the world's biggest drugmaker, sued Ranbaxy to block a generic form of the cholesterol and blood pressure medicine Caduet.

Asian stock exchanges were trading mixed with a negative bias.

The Nikkei average snapped a three-day winning streak today, slipping 0.66 per cent in quiet trade as exporters such as Sony Corp lost ground on continued concern about outlook for the US market.

The Nikkei 225 Index fell 113.55 points, to 17,178.84, after gaining in three straight sessions.

The Hang Seng Index was down 75 points, to 19,367, the Shanghai Composite was up 10 points, at 2,965, the Straits Times in Singapore was down 36 points, at 3,147, the Taiwan Weighted was up 55 points , at 7,684 and the Seoul Composite had lost 5 points, to 1,436.

Crude oil prices rose in New York on speculation that a government report will show a decline in US gasoline supplies, prompting refiners to increase processing to meet summer demand.

US stocks advanced yesterday, helped by deal news, cheaper oil and positive broker comments on the chip sector. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 42.30 points, to end at 12,318.62. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was up 3.75 points, to finish at 1,406.60. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 14.74 points, to close at 2,402.29.

UNI