Sensex resumes high at 19,689.79 points

Mumbai, Nov 6: The BSE sensitive index today opened positive at 19,689.79 points with a massive gain of around 100 points from its last close of 19,590.78 points on sustained heavy speculative demand from FIIs and mutual funds operators.

Brokers said, '' The market opened on an upbeat note tracking recovery in Asian stocks after yesterday fall caused by renewed fears over the impact of US credit crisis after US financial giant Citigroup said it may suffer up to USD 11 billion in write-downs for subprime losses. But it soon came off higher level on concerns about FII inflow. As per provisional data, FIIs sold shares worth a net Rs 1093.16 crore on last Monday.

Later, the sensex was up by 252.28 points or 1.29 per cent (pc) to 19,843.06 at 1230 hrs. Sensex hit a high of 19919.34 points in early trade.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE was up nearly by 79 points or 1.36 pc to 5926.90 points at 1230 hrs from its last close of 5847.30 points before it resumed flat at 5847.10 points.

The Nifty index recorded a high at 5957.20 and a low at 5847.10 points in intra day trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index rose 138.18 points to 8,213.99. The BSE Small-Cap index rose 167.36 to 10,014.38.

Reliance Energy rose by 2.41 pc to Rs 1864.80, Hindalco Industries moved up by 2.40 pc to Rs 188, Larsen&Toubro (L&T) edged up by 2.28 pc to Rs 4385, Oil&Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) rose by 2.19 pc to Rs 1327.50 and Maruti Suzuki India hiked by 1.86 pc to Rs 1011.90.

Reliance Communications, India"s second biggest listed cellular services maker in terms of market share, was up by 0.7 pc to Rs 785.

Yesterday, it signed a strategic partnership with Microsoft to provide Internet protocol television services in India.

Bajaj Auto was up by 1.3 pc to Rs 2427.90. Bajaj Auto, India's No. 2 motorbike maker in terms of market share, said on yesterday, its subsidiary had bought 14.5 per cent in Austrian sports motorbike maker KTM Power Sports AG for more than Rs 300 crore (USD 76 million).

Asian stock markets rebounded today's fall caused by US credit market fears. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by 0.09 points to 1.30 pc.

Hang Seng was up by 1.25 pc at 29,304.64,Nikkei rose by 0.33 pc at 16,322.90, but Taiwan's Taiwan Weighted was down by 0.09 pc at 9,316.83, Singapore's Straits Times wa up by 0.29 pc at 3,680.96 and South Korea's Seoul Composite wa up by 1.30 pc at 2,041.88 edged higher which reflected to upward trend at Indian bources, brokers pointed out.

US stocks crumbled yesterday, after Citigroup warned of billions of dollars in loan losses, reigniting fears about the health of financial firms and the broader US economy. Dow Jones Industrial Average lost by 51.70 points to 13,543.40. The tech-laden Nasdaq Composite index lost by 15.20 points to 2,795.18, dealers added.

UNI