BSE Sensex strikes fresh record high

Mumbai, July 19: The Sensex today catapulted by an impressive 166.99 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) during intra-day, to strike a fresh all-time high at 15468.16 from it's previous close of 15301.17 after opening firm at 15,357.38, as buying momentum continued for index pivotals especially the telecom scrips owing to healthy developments impacting the sector.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty Index also surged by around 41 points at 4540.15 from it's previous close of 4499.55 after opening nominally higher at 4500.35.

''The market extended gains in mid-morning trade as buying momentum continued for index pivotals, following a strong late recovery yesterday. The broad market index hit a fresh all-time high above 15,400. Telecom pivotals were in demand due to market friendly developments in the sector,'' market analysts observed.

BSE data showed that the market breadth was strong here with over two gainers for every loser. 1,627 shares advanced and 741 declined, while 74 remained unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.86 per cent to 6834.62, while the BSE Small-Cap index rose 1.22 per cent to 8284.36. Among the Sensex pack, 22 advanced while the rest declined.

Telecom pivotals advanced on renewed buying. India's second-largest mobile services firm Reliance Communications advanced 2.87 per cent to Rs 583.50, after striking an all-time high of Rs 585.70. It plans to spend USD 3.96 billion on network expansion in 2007/08 and will spin off its business process outsourcing unit, chairman Anil Ambani had earlier said on Tuesday. He also said that the company was considering a private placement of equity followed by a public issue of shares for the infrastructure unit, which builds and manages the firm's towers.

Top cellular services provider Bharti Airtel gained 1.01 per cent to Rs 891.95, after striking an all-time high of Rs 899.50. Bharti Enterprises, the parent of Bharti Airtel yesterday said that one of its group companies had bought a 4.99 per cent in the telecom firm from Vodafone. The purchase took Bharti's voting interest in Bharti Airtel to more than 50 per cent.

Other early leaders were Grasim, ACC, India Cements, UltraTech Cement Company, Reliance Industries (RIL), Hindalco Industries, Ambuja Cements and Wipro.

The prominent early laggards were Hindustan Unilever and Mahindra&Mahindra.

Among Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Singapore's Straits Times rose, while Shanghai Composite was in the red.

US stocks fell yesterday on deepening concerns that a crisis in lending could spread and a warning from the Federal Reserve chairman that weakness in housing could hurt economic growth for some time.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 53.33 points to 13918.22. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index shed 12.80 points to 2699.49.

Oil prices jumped more than a dollar yesterday after a steep drop in US gasoline stocks fanned concerns the world's top consumer could face a shortfall during the peak summer driving season. Global benchmark London Brent crude settled up USD 1.23 at USD 76.76 a barrel yesterday.

UNI