Sensex settles with modest gain of 19.60 points

Mumbai, June 11: After trading strong till mid-afternoon, the 30-scrip Sensex finally settled with a modest gain of 19.60 points at 14,083.41 today on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), as it succumbed to selling pressure in late trade.

Interestingly, it had opened much stronger at 14,170.81 from its previous close of 14,063.81 to reach a high of 14,268.91 and a low of 14,057.63 during intra-day.

Even the broader 50-stock Nifty Index closed with a paltry gain of .60 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) at 4,145.60 from its previous close of 4,145.00 points.

It too had opened much firmer at 4,183.75 and reached an intra-day high of 4,205.20 and a low of 4,134.95 points.

Market analysts said the Sensex has a strong support at 14,000 level and opined that since the volume was muted today, it indicated that the action might have shifted to primary markets.

The total turnover on BSE was Rs 3,484 crore and the market breadth turned negative here, after staying positive throughout the earlier part of the day, as selling emerged for small and mid-cap shares, experts explained and said 1,411 shares have declined as compared to 1,169 that have advanced, leaving 85 unchanged.

They pointed out that in the morning session the market breadth was much stronger with over 3 shares gaining for every loser and added that at close among the 30-scrip Sensex pack, 16 declined while the rest advanced.

Traders revealed that the institutional portion of property developer DLF's Rs 9,625 crore, at the upper end of Rs 500 to Rs 550 price band, initial public offering (IPO), was fully subscribed within an hour of its opening today. The IPO would constitute 10.27 per cent of the fully diluted post-issue capital of the company.

The progress of the July-September monsoons will determine market trends in the short term as they are the most vital for India's economic health, being the main source of water for agriculture, which generates more than a fifth of the gross domestic product, economists said.

Meanwhile, the Indian rupee climbed today, buoyed by large capital inflows slated for local equities and IPOs. In early trade, the rupee was quoted at 40.9850/9950 per US dollar, up from 41.1150/1250 last week, when it had hit an intra-day low of 41.25, its lowest since May 11, this year.

Besides, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were sellers to the tune of approximately Rs 974.78 crore in equities in the last trading session, while domestic institutions were net buyers worth nearly Rs 739 crore, traders added.

The major gainers today were Hero Honda, Hindalco Industries, HDFC, ITC, NTPC, Reliance Industries (RIL) and Infosys.

The prominent laggards were Wipro, Satyam Computers, TCS, State Bank of India (SBI), Oil&Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), ICICI Bank, Grasim, Reliance Communications and Reliance Energy.

A majority of Asian indices were trading with gains, while all the European indices posted gains. Japan's Nikkei 225 Average rose as investors bought Toyota Motor, Matsushita Electric Industrial and other blue chips after data showed the economy grew at a faster pace in the first quarter than originally thought. The Nikkei was up 0.31 per cent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.52 per cent. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was up by 0.46 per cent and Singapore's Straits Times rose by 1.54 per cent.

China's Shanghai Composite extended gains, and was up 2.11 per cent to 3,995.68.

In the last trading session, the Dow Jones industrial average showed its biggest point gain in more than two months, and the Standard&Poor's 500 index crossed the 1,500 mark. Dow surged 157.66 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 13,424.39. The S&P 500 advanced 16.95 points, or 1.14 per cent, to 1,507.67. It was just last month that the index crossed above the 1,500 mark for the first time in nearly seven years. The Nasdaq composite index gained 32.16 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 2,573.54, traders disclosed.

UNI