Sensex touches new all-time high, gains 518pts

Mumbai, Oct 3: Backed by sustained inflows by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) in blue-chip stocks, the 30-stock Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex shot up by 518.42 points (2.99 per cent) to close at a new high of 17847.04 points, making it a third largest single day gain.

The S&P Cnx Nifty index at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also posted an handsome gain of 141.85 points to settle at 5210.80 points from the previous close of 5068.95 points.

Both the key stock indices witnessed huge intra-day gyrations before ending sharply higher during the course of trading.

The BSE Sensex recorded the highest intra-day swing in the year as it swung by over 650 points and recovered nearly 600 points from the days low.

The market surged at open after a day's break. The key indices made rapid gains, with the Sensex crossing the 17,950 mark only to retreat on the back of a sharp selloff in Hong Kong markets. In fact, the key indices slipped into the negative territory for a short while, before staging a smart comeback, dealers said.

The breath was positive in the Sensex with 24 scrip's advanced while six declining. Index heavyweights like RIL, Infosys, ICICI Bank and RCom were the leading winners in the Sensex. However, Ambuja Cements, Hindustan Unilever, Cipla and Ranbaxy bucked the positive trend.

It was the third largest single day gain (518 points) recorded by the BSE Sensex. Earlier, the Sensex shot up by 615 points on June 2006 followed by 653 points on September 19, 2007.

Commenting on the market trend, Mr Ashok Jainani, Strategist at the Networth Advisory Services Ltd said, ''Valutations of the scrips may appear hard to find, but momentum backed by strong capital inflows is strong''.
IT, Real Estate, Capital Goods, Oil&Gas and Metal shares were in demand. Pharma stocks were quite subdued, as were Auto, Banking and Consumer Durable shares. Reliance Energy surged by over 7 per cent to Rs1449 after its unit filed share sale document. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs 1487 and a low of Rs 1235.

DLF rallied by over 16 per cent to Rs892 after winning a contract with Dubai World to develop a U S Dollar 15 bn township near Bangalore. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs 904 and a low of Rs 773 and recorded volumes of over 71,0,000 shares.

Suzlon surged by over 5 per cent to Rs 1553 after the company announced that they have secured order to set up 150MW plant in Gujarat. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs 1569 and a low of Rs 1483 and recorded volumes of over 10,00,000 shares.

Patel Engineering gained by 2.8 per cent to Rs472 after the company announced that it secured order worth Rs 4.28bn. The scrip touched an intra-day high of Rs 481 and a low of Rs 446 and recorded volumes of over 2,00,000 shares on NSE.

ACC gained 1.5 per cent to Rs1228 after the company announced its September sales at 1.55mn tones (up 10.7 per cent) and production at 1.55mn tones (up 13.9 per cent). The scrip has touched an intra-day high of Rs 1261 and a low of Rs 1175 and recorded volumes of over 9,00,000 shares on NSE.

IT stocks staged a strong bounce back despite the rupee trading below the Rs 40 per dollar mark. The index heavyweights like Infosys, the scrip surged over 5 per cent to Rs 2001, TCS was up by 3.6 per cent to Rs 1079, Wipro added 3.6 per cent to Rs 470 and Satyam Computer added 1.6 per cent to Rs 450.

Realty stocks were among the major gainers. The index was up by over 6 per cent. DLF advanced 16 per cent to Rs 892, Akruti rose over 10 per cent to Rs 787, Parsvnath was up by 2.7 per cent to Rs 365 and Unitech added 3.5 per cent to Rs 327.

Pharma stocks were under pressure. Cipla slipped 1.8 per cent to Rs 185, Glaxo was down by 1.5 per cent to Rs 1096, Sun Pharma declined 1 per cent to Rs 960 and Ranbaxy dropped 0.8 per cent to Rs 439.

The NSE alone today clocked a total turnover of Rs 24842.41 crore.

Among the few losers, Cipla which went dwn by Rs.3.65 to Rs 185, followed by Ambuja Cement easing by Rs 2.40 to Rs 144.95, Ranbaxy down by Rs 2.40 to Rs 438.60, Dr Reddy's lab declined by 3.20 to Rs 655 and Tata Steel finishing lower by Rs 0.95 to Rs 840.05.

UNI