Sensex bounces back, ends 298.21 pts up

Mumbai, Nov 13: After a six session downslide, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) senstive index today recovered by 298.21 points to close at 19,035.48 on reports of Left front's softening stand on the Nuke deal.

The benchmark Sensex opened with a negative gap of 56 points at 18,681.10 as compared to previous close of 18,737.27 on profit bookings during early trade.

Later, it touched a day's high of 19,210.48 gaining 574 points from a low of 18,636.21 during late trade, after reports that the Left front may allow the government to negotiate safeguards for Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement, brokers said.

Similarly, the broader base National Stock Exchange (NSE) index Nifty today gained 78.30 points, 1.39 per cent up, to close at 5,695.40 against previous close of 5,617.10. Nifty opened at 5,612.35, touched a high of 5,758.58 and a low of 5,591.60 during the day trade.

The market witnessed high volatility pared with gains during the day trade. All the BSE sectorial indices performed well, Banking, capital goods and newly introduced power stocks were the best performers in today's trade. The market breadth was strong.

European markets were in the red. Asian markets were mixed, brokers observed.

According to data sources, the BSE Mid-Cap was up 2.12pc to 8,113.72 and the BSE Small-Cap was up 1.89 pc to 9,810.29.

Among the major gainers, NTPC moved up 7.32pc to Rs 272.05, HDFC Bank was up 7.08pc to Rs 1580, Larsen&Toubro rose 4.86pc to Rs 4370, State Bank of India gained 2.80pc to Rs 2299.90 and ICICI Bank rose 2.82 pc to Rs 1179.

Wipro was down 3.60pc to Rs 441.80, Mahindra&Mahindra shed 2.59pc to Rs 709.50, TCS was low at 1.62 pc to Rs 949.95, Hindalco Industries shed 1.11pc to Rs 204.50 and Infosys Technologies down 1.09pc to Rs 1624, were among the major losers.

The BSE Bankex closed with a gain of 3.45 per cent, followed by the BSE Capital Goods index up 3.40 pc. The BSE Power index rose 3.04 pc and the Metal index by 1.67 pc. The foreign inflows slowed down after SEBI's curb on use of participatory notes, used by unregistered foreigners to buy Indian shares.

The lingering credit worries in the US also kept the market bearish in the past sessions. Investors are looking forwad at US Federal Reserve's move on key rates next month, which may further decide the market's mood, brokers added.

UNI