BSE Sensex garners 305 points

Mumbai, June 23: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30-share Sensex rose by 304.65 points or 2.15 per cent to 14,467.36, while the National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty gained 80.6 points or 1.93 per cent to 4,252.05 during the week.

Market analysts observed that the market surged last week despite liquidity concerns arising from the mega follow-up public offer (FPO) of ICICI Bank, which was subscribed a good 11.38 times after the issue opened for subscription on Tuesday to close yesterday.

Traders said trading for the week started on a bearish note with the Sensex declining by 82.57 points to 14,080.14, on Monday.

The latest circular issued by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday failed to provide the much-needed clarity with regard to tax on profit or gain arising from sale of shares.

Sensex surged 215.36 point at 14,295.50, on Tuesday boosted by short covering and buying in index pivotals. The sentiment was also boosted further by reports that advance tax paid by companies and individuals were up by 28.6 per cent for the April-June 2007 period, from a year earlier, which in turn raised hopes of robust corporate earnings in the period.

The BSE index gained 116.45 points to 14,411.95 on Wednesday, with shares from auto, banking, cement and metal leading the rally.

The upmove continued for the third straight day on Thursday, as the Sensex rose by 87.29 points to 14,499.24. Shares from the capital goods sector were in demand.

The three day rally fizzled out on Friday with the Sensex slipping by 31.88 points at 14,467.36, in highly volatile trade.

India's wholesale price index (inflation) slipped by 4.28 per cent in the 12 months to June 9, this year, lower than the previous week's figure of 4.80 per cent, due to a decline in food prices, government data released on Friday revealed.

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose by 1.43 per cent to Rs 1704. Analysts said global oil giants including Shell, Exxon and Chevron are eyeing a stake in Reliance Industries' overseas oil&gas assets. RIL recently hived off these assets into a separate company called Reliance Exploration and Production.

Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court's in its interim order on Thursday ruled that RIL cannot sell the gas to be produced from one of its prime blocks in the Krishna-Godavari basin to any third party other than Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resourses (RNRL) and NTPC.

In the interim order on a petition filed by RNRL, the Bombay High Court directed that the 81.6 million cubic metres of gas per day (mmscmd) is to be earmarked for RNRL, NTPC or for RIL's captive use for the next eight years.

Bank stocks were in demand. State-run banking major State Bank of India (SBI) gained on its plans to raise USD 225 million from the overseas market this year by issuing perpetual bonds. The bank plans to raise a total of Rs 15,000 crore this year in the form of equity (tier-I) and debt (tier-II).

ICICI Bank also rose on strong response for its follow-on public issue. The price band for the issue was Rs 885 to Rs 950 per equity share. Retail bidders would be allotted shares at a discount of Rs 50 per share to the issue price determined by the book-building process. The public issue opened for subscription on Tuesday and closed yesterday. The issue size is Rs 8,750 crore. The issue including the green shoe option aggregates to Rs 10,062.5 crore.

Engineering&construction major L&T gained after company's joint venture won an order worth Rs 610 crore for a residential building project in Dubai. The project is to be completed in 660 days from the date of commencement. L&T also signed a USD 95-million shipbuilding contract with Netherland's BigLift.

State-run engineering major Bharat Heavy Electrical (Bhel) also moved higher after it bagged a Rs 139-crore contract from NTPC for supplying and commissioning of 27 transformers on Tuesday. Reliance Energy (REL) galloped. REL is one of the five qualified bidders to have submitted bids for the 4,000-mega watt Sasan ultra mega power project. The Lanco Infratech-Globeleq Singapore consortium had won the bid for the Sasan project after outbidding eight companies by quoting the lowest tariff of Rs 1.19 per unit.

However, the project became controversial after Prince Stone Investments, the Mauritius-based holding company of Lanco, and Jindal Steel&Power together acquired Globeleq Singapore in February this year.

Aditya Birla group's aluminium and copper major Hindalco Industries edged up on market speculation that promoters are hiking their stake from the open market.

Information Technology (IT) pivotals settled with losses, as the rupee gained strength. Frontline pivotals, Infosys, Satyam Computers, TCS and Wipro settled with losses.

Glory Polyfilms settled at 28.85 per cent premium at Rs 61.85 on the BSE over it's initial public offer (IPO) price of Rs 48, on Monday. The Glory Polyfilms stock made its debut at premium at Rs 50. The scrip touched a high of Rs 84 and a low of Rs 50 during the day.

On the same day, Decolight Ceramics settled at Rs 44.50, a discount of 17.5 per cent over the IPO price of Rs 54. The scrip debuted at Rs 57, touched a high of Rs 65.90 and low of Rs 43.50.

HTMT Global Solutions (HGSL) settled at Rs 583, compared with a base price of Rs 800 on its debut, on Monday following a restructuring scheme of Hinduja TMT (HTMT).

UNI