Sensex settles with marginal gain

Mumbai, June 26: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today settled at 14,501.08, though the gain was only a modest 13.36 points as information technology (IT) scrips saw some unwinding in late trade due to lack of any trigger and negative vibes from global bourses.

It may be noted here that the barometer Index had reached an intra-day high of 14,560.48 on account of strong buying interest witnessed in IT stocks after the Indian rupee started at its lowest level in more than two weeks today. A weakening rupee spells good news for software majors, who derive a major portion of their revenues from US-based clients, market analysts pointed out.

''The market settled with marginal gains in volatile session, which started oscillating in late trade. There has been a lack of direction on the bourses since the past few trading sessions, on lack of any trigger. Also the cues from global markets were not encouraging either. Shares from consumer durables sector surged, while IT stocks saw some unwinding in late trade, after opening firm,'' market pundits rued.

However, a healthy market breadth reveals that despite a lacklustre activity in index stocks, there was plenty of action outside the index stocks, experts explained and pointed out that 1,503 shares have advanced while only 1,126 declined, and 80 remained unchanged.

The Mid-Cap index struck all time high of 6,435.32, after settling 33.71 points higher to 6,417.90. The total turnover on the premier BSE amounted to Rs 4,677 crore and among the 30-scrip Sensex pack, 16 advanced while the rest declined.

Among the broader markets, the Nifty Index recorded a healthy gain of 26.30 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to close at 4,285.70 from it's previous close of 4,259.40, after opening unchanged and moving between 4,296.15 and 4,250.10 during the session.

Today's winners included Oil&Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Bharti Airtel, BHEL and Satyam Computers.

The laggards were TCS, Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Reliance Industries (RIL), Ranbaxy Laboratories, Ambuja Cements, ACC, HDFC and ICICI Bank.

The Indian Rupee today started at its lowest level in more than two weeks, as investors anticipated an abatement in capital inflows on shrinking global risk appetite and a step-up in dollar purchases by oil refiners. In early trade, the rupee was at 41.01/02 per US dollar, slipping from its previous close of 40.875/885, dealers said.

''Volatility is likely to be high on the bourses in the short term ahead of the expiry of this months derivatives contracts on Thursday. As is the case at the time of expiry of near-month contracts, the extent of rollover to next month's contracts from this month's contracts will dictate the trend in the near term. A higher rollover indicates that the market players expect bourses to remain firm in the month ahead and vice versa,'' market pundits explained.

Economists drew attention to the fact that over the next few months, the progress of the July-September monsoon will hold play a key factor on the bourses. The weather office had earlier predicted in April that this year's monsoon was likely to be 95 per cent of the long-term average, with a 5 per cent margin of error. The annual monsoon is vital for India's economic health as it is the main source of water for agriculture, which in turn generates more than a fifth of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers to the tune of nearly Rs 19.84 crore in equities, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a approximately Rs 179.23 crore during the last trading session, traders revealed.

Asian markets were in the red as Japan's Nikkei 225 index declined by 21.37 points at 18,066.11. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted tanked by 0.82 per cent at 8,865.75, Singapore's Straits Times was down by 1.54 per cent at 3,525.10, Hang Seng slipped by 0.09 per cent at 21,803.57, South Korea's Seoul Composite was down by 0.47 per cent at 1,749.55. But China's Shanghai Composite gained by 0.82 per cent to 3,973.31.

All the European markets were trading lower and the US markets gave up a big advance and turned lower yesterday, as investors suffered a renewed case of the jitters ahead of the Federal Reserve's meeting on interest rates later this week.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.21 points, or 0.06 per cent, to 13,352.05, after rising more than 100 points earlier in the day. Broader indices also declined. The Standard&Poor's 500 index fell 4.82 points, or 0.32 per cent, to 1,497.74, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 11.88 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 2,577.08.

Crude oil prices reversed early weakness to gain 4 cents to USD 69.18 today, following news that a number of oil companies have reportedly refused Venezuela's terms on major oil projects, dealers added.

UNI