Sensex above 15,700-mark, Nifty scales 4,600 lvl

Mumbai, July 23: Strong buying interest in auto, real estate and capital goods scrips today propelled the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex to settle above the 15,700-mark at 15,732.20, a whopping jump of 166.65 points, even as Asian and European markets were trading on a mixed note.

''The market kept on surging as the day progressed, except for the odd hiccups in initial trade due to weak global cues. Strong buying interest propelled the key indices to all time highs. Shares from the auto, real estate, capital goods sectors were at the forefront of today's rally. However, shares from the pharma pack saw some profit booking. Asian and European markets were trading on a mixed note,'' market participants said.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty Index also surged by 53.30 points to settle firmly in the green at 4,619.35 from its previous close of 4,566.05, after opening weaker at 4,564.25 and moving between 4,628.45 and 4,547.20 during the day's session.

Among the 30-scrip Sensex pack, 21 advanced while the rest declined.

Meanwhile, due to pressure from Left-backed trade unions, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) board today agreed to continue paying 8.5 per cent interest rate to its nearly four crore subscribers for fiscal 2006-07 as well. The EPF has a corpus of Rs 94,000 crore including pension fund.

Today's leaders included Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), L&T, Hindustan Unilever (HUL), ONGC, Reliance Industries (RIL), Bajaj Auto, Tata Motors and Maruti Udyog.

Cipla, Ranbaxy Laboratories, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Infosys Technologies were the prominent laggards.

Asian indices were also trading mixed today, as Japan's Nikkei tumbled 1.07 per cent to 17,963.44, while Hang Seng gained 0.32 per cent to 23,365.56, and China's Shanghai Composite jumped 3.81 per cent to 4,213.36.

European indices were trading on a mixed note. Shares on Wall Street declined sharply during the last trading session. The Dow fell 149.33 points, or 1.07 per cent, to 13,851.08. The broader S&P 500 index fell 18.98 points, or 1.22 per cent, to 1,534.10, and ended the week 1.19 per cent lower. The Nasdaq Composite index fell 32.44 points, or 1.19 per cent, to 2,687.60.

UNI