Sensex settles above the 14,500 mark

Mumbai, June 28: The Sensex today breached the psychological barrier of 14,500 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) to settle in the green at 14,504.57 after gaining 73.51 points on account of strong buying interest in cement, sugar and banking scrips.

After opening remarkably higher at 14,498.05 from its previous close of 14,431.06, it reached an intra-day high of 14,537.04 and a low of 14,435.24.

The broader 50-stock Nifty Index also appreciated by around 19 points on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to close on positive territory at 4,282.00 from its previous close of 4,263.95, after opening practically unchanged and moving between 4,291.40 and 4,256.90 during the session.

''The market swung sharply for a while in late trading ahead of the expiry of derivatives contracts series for this month. Rollover from this month's series to next month's stood at 48.29 per cent till yesterday. Shares from cement, sugar and banking sector were in demand, while auto and metal stocks attracted selling,'' market analysts explained.

The total turnover on the BSE amounted to Rs 4,682 crore and the market breadth was strong as 1,482 shares advanced while 1,164 declined and 65 remained unchanged. Among the Sensex constituents, 16 advanced while the rest declined.

''Shares from the cement pack rallied, on renewed buying after Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram told a television news channel yesterday that there was no freeze on cement prices and the government has not tried to control cement prices. He said the prices had gone up by a few rupees in south India,'' analysts pointed out.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers of nearly Rs 567.33-crore equities, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth approximately Rs 244.10 crore yesterday, traders said.

Today's winners included ACC, Ambuja Cements, Grasim, Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), Ranbaxy Laboratories and State Bank of India (SBI), The laggards included Oil&Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Hindaco Industries, Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog and Reliance Industries (RIL).

Asian markets were trading strong today. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged by 1.07 per cent at 21,938.22 while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.46 per cent at 17,932.27. Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted up by 0.55 per cent at 8,829.23, Singaopre's Straits Times was up by 0.93 per cent at 3,538.23 and South Korea's Seoul Composite rose by 1.08 per cent at 1,751.75.

However, China's Shanghai Composite slumped by 4.03 per cent to 3,914.20.

All the European markets were trading with gains, except Spain's Madrid General which was down by 0.40 per cent.

US stocks rose yesterday as investors snapped up beaten-down shares after a three-day slide and a nearly 2 per cent jump in oil prices boosted demand for energy companies' shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up by 90.07 points, or 0.68 per cent, at 13,427.73. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was up by 13.45 points, or 0.90 per cent, at 1,506.34. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 31.19 points, or 1.21 per cent, at 2,605.35. Oil prices edged higher in Asian trading today following a US government report that showed an unexpected fall in gasoline stocks amid peak summer driving season demand. Light, sweet crude for August 2007 delivery gained 11 cents to USD 69.08 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Singapore.

Brent crude contract for August delivery rose a cent to USD 70.56 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

UNI