Sensex surges past 14,600 on renewed buying

Mumbai, June 29: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today scaled the 14,600 mark, zooming by an impressive 145.94 points to settle at 14,650.51 on account of renewed buying in index pivotals following a smooth rollover of positions from the June 2007 series to the July 2007 series in the derivatives segment and further drop in inflation.

''Official data showing a further fall in inflation aided the rally. Besides, there has been a build-up of fresh positions as this months derivatives contracts expired yesterday. Shares from banking, sugar, cement and capital goods sector rose while some profit booking was seen in metal stocks,'' market analysts observed.

After opening firmly in the green at 14,589.52 from its previous close of 14,504.57, the barometer Sensex moved between 14,663.25 and 14,574.45 during the session.

Among the broader indices, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty Index also surged by 36.30 points to settle higher at 4,318.30 from its previous close of 4,282.00 after opening practically unchanged and reaching an intra-day high of 4,321.35 and a low of 4,280.95.

India's wholesale price index (inflation) slipped further to 4.03 per cent in the 12 months to June 16, lower than the previous week's figure of 4.28 per cent due to a decline in food and manufactured product prices, official data released today revealed. This inflation rate is the lowest since the end of April last year, economists pointed out.

As per market data, rollover from the Nifty June 2007 series to Nifty July 2007 was smooth, with marketwide rollover of 69 per cent and Nifty rollover of 74 per cent, analysts noted.

The total turnover on the BSE was Rs 4,817 crore. The market breadth was strong here as 1,496 shares advanced while 1,141 declined and 80 remained unchanged. Among the Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined, BSE data showed.

''Cement shares rallied for the second straight day as buying continued after the Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram told a television news channel, after market hours, on Wednesday that there was no freeze on cement price and the government has not tried to control cement prices. He said prices had gone up by a few rupees in south India,'' market pundits said.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers of equities worth nearly Rs 398.11 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth approximately Rs 73.51 crore yesterday, traders revealed.

Today's prominent gainers were Reliance Energy (REL), Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC), HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Reliance Industries (RIL), BHEL, L&T, ACC, Grasim, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Ranbaxy Laboratories.

The losers included Hindalco Industries, Maruti Udyog and Bharti Airtel.

Asian stocks were mixed today after the US Federal Reserve left US interest rates unchanged. The Japanese Yen weakened against the US dollar. Japan's Nikkei surged by 1.15 per cent at 18,138.36 and Straits Times rose 0.28 per cent at 3,548.20. However, Taiwan's Taiwan weighed down by 0.11 per cent at 8,883.21, Seoul Composite slipped by 0.47 per cent at 1,743.60 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.75 per cent to 21,772.73. China's Shanghai Composite slumped 2.39 per cent to 3,820.70.

Most of the European markets were trading weak.

US stocks finished flat today after the Federal Reserve said the economy appeared to be growing at a moderate pace. The Fed, however, repeated its worries about inflation. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 5.45 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 13,422.28. Broader stock indicators finished mixed. The S&P 500 index slipped 0.63 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 1,505.71, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.02 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 2,608.37.

Oil held steady around USD 70 for the third session today as the market remained focused on falling US gasoline inventories and a decline in crude stocks in a key delivery point in the world's largest consumer. US crude rose 5 cents to USD 69.62 a barrel.

UNI