BSE Sensex rises by 64.39 points

Mumbai, Nov 29: The Benchmark Sensitive index today closed higher at 19,003.26 with a modest gain of 64.39 points on the Bombay Stock Exchange on fresh speculative demand from FIIs and local financial institutional investors.

The market came off sharply from higher levels in late trade due to expiry of November 2007 derivatives contracts. ICICI Bank also came off higher levels. Infosys slipped into the red in late trade in contrast to decent gains earlier during the day. Bajaj Auto, Ranbaxy, Reliance Energy slipped even as Metal stocks lost ground.

The Market breadth turned negative from positive in the last one hour of trade. 17 out of 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in red.

European markets, which opened after Indian markets, were in green.

Asian markets surged after comments yesterday from US Federal Reserve officials raised the chances of another US rate cut in December 2007.

In Europe, key indices in France and Germany were up by between 0.13 pc to 0.33 pc. UK's FTSE 100 was down by 0.28 pc.

In Asia, key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 2.06 pc to 4.16 pc.

The Fed's next policy-setting meeting is scheduled for December 11 2007.

US markets rallied overnight on expectations of an interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve in December 2007. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped by 331.01 points, or 2.55 pc, at 13,289.45 yesterday. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index was up by 40.79 points, or 2.86 pc at 1,469.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up by 82.11 points, or 3.18 pc, at 2,662.91, which helped to boost Indian bourses, brokers said.

The market has been volatile over the past few days due to alternate bouts of buying and selling amid FII sales, caused by redemption pressure in their home countries and fears of a US recession arising from US housing slump and credit crisis.

The 30-share BSE Sensex opened high at 19,290.67. Later, Sensex hit a low of 18,930.31 at the fag end of the trading session. At day's low, Sensex shed 8.56 points for the day. The Sensex had hit a high of 19,297.01 in early trade.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE closed up slighty by 17.05 points or 0.30 per cent (pc) to 5634.60, before it resumed flat at 5617.80 points. Nifty hit a high of 5725 in early trade.

Nifty recorded a low at 5612.10 points in intra day trade.

The BSE Mid-Cap index fell by 0.17 pc to 8,369.61 and the BSE Small-Cap index rose by 0.21 pc to 10,396.99.

BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 7596 crore, higher than yesterday's Rs 7,472.89 crore.

India's largest private sector firm by market capitalisation&oil refiner Reliance Industries was up by 1.22 pc to Rs 2820.20.

ICICI Bank rose by 1.20 pc to Rs 1140.25. The stock came sharply off the higher level in late trade. It came off session's high of Rs 1184.

India's second largest software exporter by sales Infosys Technologies fell by 0.22 pc to Rs 1566.10.

HDFC Bank gained by 3.78 pc to Rs 1668.80 followed by Maruti Suzuki by 2.51 pc to Rs 991, Mahindra&Mahindra by 1.56 pc to Rs 720.90, Bharti Airtel by 0.91 pc to Rs 918.25 and State Bank of India by 0.58 pc to Rs 2265.

Bajaj Auto dropped by 4.68 pc to Rs 2600.20, Ranbaxy laboratories fell by 2.41 pc to Rs 379.95, Reliance Energy eased by 1670.65, Reliance Communications declined by 1.78 pc to Rs 666.35 and ONGC was down by 1.70 pc to Rs 1131.

UNI