Sensex spurts by 239.94 pts; Nifty up 66.95 pts

Mumbai, Mar 21: The Sensex today zoomed up by 239.94 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to close at 12,945.88 amid frenzied buying in Banking scrips and positive global cues.

Among the broader markets, the Nifty Index also shot up by 66.95 points and settled at 3,764.55 from its previous close of 3,697.60 points.

''The market advanced throughout the day, except the odd blip in early afternoon trade. Today is the third consecutive day in the week wherein the markets have ended on a bullish note, an indication of the extent to which the Indian economy has integrated to the world economy,'' a market analyst observed.

The benchmark index saw sporadic buying in the fag hours of the day's trade, and had also surged to a high of 12,964.94, helped by strong purchases in index pivotals. The Sensex opened positive, at 12,735.91, but had soon slipped into the red at 12,664.33.

The market-breadth turned negative after a strong opening. On the BSE, 1,376 shares declined while 1,153 advanced and 99 remained unchanged.

Among the 30-Sensex pack, 24 advanced while the rest declined, brokers said.

All European indices were trading with gains, and most Asian ones had ended with gains. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.86 per cent and Japan's Nikkei 225 Index advanced by 0.90 per cent.

Among US stocks, the Dow Jones industrial average ended up 61.93 points, or 0.51 per cent, at 12,288.10. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index closed 8.88 points, or 0.63 per cent, in front at 1,410.94.

The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 13.80 points, or 0.58 per cent, at 2,408.21.

The call money rate at which banks lend funds to each other, jumped to 60 per cent yesterday, its highest since January 1998. The Fed's policy-making Federal Open Market Committee has begun its two-day meeting yesterday. The Fed is expected to hold its benchmark rate steady at 5.25 per cent, but investors will focus on its statement on the outlook for the economy and future interest rate policy, experts opined.

The next major trigger for the domestic bourses is Q4 March 2007 earnings, reports of which by corporates will start next month.

Marketmen will closely watch what company managements have to say about the outlook for FY 2008, analysts added.

There was renewed buying for shares from the banking space. The BSE Bankex, which was the top gainer among BSE's sectoral indices, gained 3.96 per cent. ICICI Bank surged 5.35 per cent to Rs 868, on a volume of 7.45 lakh shares, and was the top gainer. State-run State Bank of India gained 3.31 per cent to Rs 984.15. HDFC Bank rose 1.35 per cent to Rs 967.

Other gainers from the banking pack included Centurion Bank of Punjab (up 7.30 per cent to Rs 36.90), Bank of Baroda (up 7.20 per cent to Rs 214), Punjab National Bank (up 3.91 per cent to Rs 452.20), UTI Bank (up 3.37 per cent to Rs 478) and Bank of India (up 3.29 per cent to Rs 156.85).

Reliance Energy advanced 3.12 per cent to Rs 491, on reports that the company was pursuing tie-ups with US companies with plans to get into the nuclear energy market.

Hero Honda rose 2.63 per cent to Rs 652.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) advanced 1.59 per cent to Rs 1342, on a volume of 6.34 lakh shares. It had staged a smart recovery from a low of Rs 1307.50.

Cement major Gujarat Ambuja Cements was the top loser, down 4.20 per cent to Rs 106.25, on a volume of 20.11 lakh shares.

HDFC (down 1.66 per cent to Rs 1540), Ranbaxy (down 1.52 per cent to Rs 331.25) and Grasim (down 1.30 per cent to Rs 2096.70) were the other prominent losers, brokers added.

UNI