Sensex soars above 14,700 in early trade

Mumbai, July 2: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex today advanced by 66.80 points in early trade, breaching the 14,700-mark, to be at 14,717.31 points as strong buying momentum was seen for stocks from the small- and mid-cap pack.

After opening much firmer at 14,685.16 from its previous close of 14,650.51 points, the market held firm in mid-morning trade as buying was seen in auto and capital goods stocks, while cement shares attracted selling, market analysts noted.

The BSE Mid-Cap index struck an all-time high of 6,597.22 and was up by one per cent to 6,592.31. The BSE Small-Cap index, too, struck an all-time high of 7,808.29, and was 0.88 per cent higher at 7,798.60.

The broader National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty Index also gained 21.10 points to reach 4,339.40 after opening marginally higher at 4,318.40 from it's previous close of 4,318.30.

The total turnover on the BSE amounted to Rs 1,382 crore. The market breadth was strong, with 1,466 shares advancing as compared to 839 shares declining and 70 remaining unchanged. Among the Sensex pack, 20 advanced while the rest declined.

The early winners included Maruti Udyog, Tata Motors, Hero Honda L&T, BHEL, Reliance Industries, Spentex Industries and GMR Infrastructure.

The early laggards were Ambuja Cements, ACC and Grasim.

Asian indices were mixed today. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.10 per cent at 18,162.73, Singapore's Straits Times slipped 0.05 per cent to 3,546.25. However, Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted up 0.63 per cent at 8,939.49 and South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 1.59 per cent at 1,771.35. China's Shanghai Composite was down 1.55 per cent to 3,761.46.

During the last trading session, the Dow Jones lost 13.66 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 13,408.62, after swinging dramatically higher and lower over the course of the day.

Broader stock indicators also dipped. The S&P 500 index fell 2.36 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 1,503.35, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 5.14 points, or 0.20 per cent, to 2,603.23.

UNI