Sensex vaults by 215.36 points as Nifty surges by 67 points

Mumbai, June 19 (UNI) The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today soared by a whopping 215.36 points to settle firmly in the green at 14,295.50, as short sellers rushed to cover their positions following a strong response to the follow-on public offer (FPO) of ICICI Bank and strong buying momentum in select index pivotals.

After opening firm at 14,088.58 from its previous close of 14,080.14, it moved between 14,315.18 and 14,058.79 during the session.

''The market, which opened firm today, kept on advancing as time progressed. The rally gathered steam in mid-afternoon trading.

Strong response to the FPO of ICICI Bank boosted sentiment. Short covering extended the rally further towards the fag end of the day.

Some market players had gone short on the market expecting a fall in share prices due to to shift of funds by investors from secondary market to primary market to subscribe for the large sized Rs 8750 crore FPO of ICICI Bank. These short sellers rushed to cover their positions after noon,'' market analysts said.

Strong buying momentum was seen in select index pivotals including Reliance Industries (RIL), State Bank of India (SBI) and Oil&natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). However IT stocks underperformed today, as Rupee strengthened against dollar, they observed.

The broader National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty Index also catapulted by 67.20 points to settle in positive territory at 4,214.30 from its previous close of 4,147.10 after touching an intra-day high of 4,222.40 and a low of 4,136.15. It had however, opened weaker at 4,143.85.

The FPO of ICICI Bank was fully subscribed in the first twenty minitues of the opening of the issue.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4,326 crore. The market breadth here was positive as 1,397 shares advanced and 1,180 declining, while 82 remained unchanged.

Among the Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined.

Today's winners included State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Maruti Udyog, Hero Honda Motors, Reliance Industries (RIL) and Oil &Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

The prominent laggards were Infosys, Satyam Computers, TCS, Wipro and Hindalco Industries.

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