Sensex up by 172.40 points, closes in green

Mumbai, May 17: For the second consecutive session, the Bulls today catapulted the Sensex by 172.40 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange to ensure it settles in the green at 14,299.71 points, as buying momentum continued for index pivotals, especially index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) buoyed by firm global and Asian markets.

After opening stronger at 14,217.36, it reached a high of 14,352.98 and a low of 14,217.36 points during intra-day trade.

Among the broader markets, the Nifty Index also soared by an encouraging 48.60 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to settle on positive terrain at 4,219.55, from its previous close of 4,170.95 points.

Market analysts pointed out that the market was further boosted after Bank of Japan (BOJ) left rates unchanged. The world's second largest economy cooled in the first quarter as companies cut spending on concerns that exports to the US will slow. Gross domestic product grew at an annual 2.4 per cent rate in the three months ended Mar 31 this year, the Japanese Cabinet said in Tokyo today. The fourth-quarter figure was revised to 5 per cent from 5.5 per cent.

All the Asian indices except the Nikkei 225, which was down by 0.17 per cent, logged gains. On the other hand all the European markets, except Swiss Market, advanced. The Hang Seng index rose 0.27 per cent.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 5715 crore, which is higher than yesterday's turnover of Rs 5,179 crore, but, however, the market breadth turned negative when 1,362 shares declined as compared to only 1,254 scrips that advanced here. 88 remained unchanged, experts explained adding that among the 30-scrip Sensex, 23 advanced while the rest declined.

VSNL, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, IPCL, BPCL, Dabur India, Reliance Petroleum, HCL Technologies, SAIL, Zee Entertainment, Tata Power, Punjab National Bank, MTNL, Suzlon Energy, Wipro, Reliance Energy, HDFC and Larsen&Toubro were the top gainers.

GlaxoSmithKline Pharma, Nalco, Sterlite Industries, Sun Pharmaceuticals, Mahindra&Mahindra and GAIL India were the prominent losers.

Analysts explained that a key event to watch today is a Union cabinet meeting, scheduled later in the day, to take up a proposal to allow public sector enterprises to invest their surplus funds in mutual funds. With state owned companies sitting on huge cash surpluses, even a small percentage of this money entering equities indirectly through mutual funds will pep up the markets.

Traders revealed that Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pressed sales worth a net Rs 330.80 crore day before yesterday, as compared to an inflow of Rs 60.50 crore on Monday. They estimated that FIIs were net sellers of Rs 245- crore equities yesterday, when Sensex had surged 198 points. Domestic institutional investors were net buyers of Rs 403- crore equities on that day.

Over the next few months, the progress of the June-September monsoon will hold the key to the direction of the domestic bourses.

The Indian meteorological department on Monday forecast that the annual monsoon rains would arrive in Kerala on May 24 this year. The weather office said last month that this year's monsoon rains were likely to be 95 per cent of the long-term average, with a 5 per cent margin of error.

US stocks advanced yesterday amid expectations of further corporate takeovers, driving the blue-chip Dow to another record closing high. The Dow gained 103.69 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 13,487.53. The tech laden Nasdaq Composite Index gained 22.13 points, or 0.88 per cent, to 2,547.42.

Oil prices rose slightly in Asian trading today following continued concerns about gasoline supply, notwithstanding a US government report that showed stockpiles of the fuel increased last week. Light, sweet crude for June delivery added 13 cents to USD 62.68 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midday in Singapore. The contract fell 62 cents yesterday to settle at USD 62.55 a barrel after crude oil, gasoline and distallate inventories were all reported to have increased last week.

UNI