Sensex sprints up by 375.21 points

Mumbai, Aug 8: The Sensex today jumped up by a whopping 375.21 points to settle above the 15,300 mark at 15,307.98 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on buying frenzy across all sectoral indices, following steady gains in US, European and Asian bourses.

''The market kept on cruising ahead right from the opening bell on heavy buying in index pivotals especially Reliance Industries (RIL), which surged on high volumes. Short covering may also have propelled the rally further. Tracking steady gains from US markets overnight, European and Asian markets also posted gains today. All sectoral BSE indices have posted gains,'' market analysts observed.

The broader National Stock Exchange (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty also surged by an impressive 105.35 points to settle firmly in the green at 4,462.10, from its previous close of 4,356.35 after opening firmer at 4,357.00 and oscillating between 4,472.15 and 4,356.75 in the day's session.

''Information technology (IT) stocks dominated the market since the opening bell as the rupee eased today after the government yesterday tightened external commercial borrowing (ECB) norms. There are acute concerns that capital inflows from abroad will slow down now. The rupee was hovering at 40.52 versus the US dollar, weaker than it's yesterday's close of 40.41/42,'' market pundits pointed out.

BSE data showed that the market breadth was strong with 2,004 shares advancing as compared to 730 that declined, while 54 remained unchanged. The total turnover here amounted to Rs 4,708 crore. Among the 30-stock Sensex pack, 27 advanced while only 3 declined.

Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers, Wipro, TCS, Reliance Industries (RIL), HDFC, SBI, NTPC, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, L&T, BHEL, Hindalco Industries, ACC, Ambuja Cements and Grasim were the day's leaders, while Cipla and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were the two prominent laggards.

All Asian stock markets posted gains today. Hang Seng was up 2.87 per cent, Taiwan Weighted rose 2.68 per cent, Nikkei gained 0.64 per cent, Shanghai Composite surged 0.26 per cent, Straits Times rose 3.37 per cent and South Korea's Seoul Composite was up 2.34 per cent.

All the European indices were trading higher today.

US stocks rose during the last trading session, following the Fed's positive outlook on the economy. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 35.52 points to end at 13,504.30. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index gained 9.04 points to finish at 1,476.71 and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 14.27 points to close at 2,561.60.

The government has put stiff restrictions on overseas borrowings, a measure sought by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to enable it to check the rupee's sharp appreciation. External commercial borrowings (ECBs) above USD 20 million have now been allowed only for foreign currency expenditure for permissible end-uses and are required to be parked abroad. As a result, interest costs for companies might jump by 75-100 basis points as ECBs were usually at lower interest rates than domestic borrowings,'' experts explained adding that Indian companies had raised a total of USD 24 billion of ECBs in 2006-07 against the government's internal target of USD 22 billion.

Second largest software services exporter Infosys Technologies jumped 4.59 per cent to Rs 1,964.90 on 6.44 lakh shares. It was the top gainer from Sensex pack. Other IT stocks also posted gained.

India's largest private sector enterprise Reliance Industries (RIL) surged 3.77 per cent to Rs 1,873.95 on 14.22 lakh shares. RIL is understood to be keen on picking up a stake in the proposed 4,00,000-barrel-a-day Jizan refinery project in Saudi Arabia. State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest bank, rose 1.07 per cent to Rs 1,701.25 on reports that it is ready with a USD 1 billion war chest to take over a niche bank, which not just gives it access to foreign markets but also helps it blunt the advantage of international players who are poised to enter India in 2009.

India's largest listed cellular services provider Bharti Airtel rose 0.91 per cent to Rs 883.95 following its subsidiary plans to start direct-to-home satellite TV services by the last quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2008. Bharti Airtel said its Bharti Telemedia unit had received a letter of intent from the Indian government to commence the services.

ICICI Bank, the country's largest private sector bank, rose 1.75 per cent to Rs 886 on reports that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) is expected to reconsider the much-discussed proposal of infusion of foreign funds into its holding company at its next meeting later on Aug 17.

India's largest aluminium company Hindalco Industries gained 3.10 per cent to Rs 161.70 after Novelis Inc, now a part of the company bagged a contract worth about USD 1 billion to supply the South American operations of Rexam PLC, the UK packaging group. Dr Reddy's Laboratories slipped 0.70 per cent to Rs 631 on 40,010 shares and was the top loser from Sensex pack. Cipla lost 0.11 per cent to Rs 186.85 as it gave an ex-dividend of Rs 2 per share on face value of Rs 2 each from today.

UNI