Sensex surges by 510 pts during the week

Mumbai, Dec 1: The BSE Sensex rose by 510.32 points or 2.70 per cent (pc) to settle at 19,363.19 while the S&P CNX Nifty index of NSE also hiked by 154.15 points or 2.74 pc to 5762.75, in the week ended yesterday.

Brokers said, ''The market posted decent gains during this week as buying momentum picked up in the later half of the week.

However, volatility was high due to alternate bouts of buying and selling by FII caused by redemption pressure in their home countries and fears of a US recession arising from US housing slump and credit crisis.

The market advanced in three out of five trading sessions in the week.

Trading for the week started on strong note with the 30-share BSE Sensex surging by 394.67 points to 19,247.54, on Monday tracking firm global markets.

On Tuesday, the Sensex lost by 119.81 points to 19127.73.

Losses in the US markets on renewed worries over the fallout from the US subprime mortgage crisis dampened the sentiment.

Selling continued on Wednesday, as BSE Sensex declined by 188.86 points to 18,938.87. The market reversed early gains in the latter part of the day on unwinding of positions by traders ahead of expiry of derivatives contracts, brokers added.

On Thursday, the market witnessed high volatility and came sharply off higher level in late trade due to expiry of November 2007 derivatives contracts. It however settled at 19,003.26, up 64.39 points for the day. The 30-share BSE Sensex surged 359.93 points or 1.89 pc to 19,363.19 on Friday. Robust Q2 GDP growth data and healthy rollover of derivative contacts from November 2007 series to December 2007 series aided the surge.

Reliance Industries (RIL) gained by 1.40 pc to Rs 2850.75 in the week. The company sold 4.01 pc equity stake in its subsidiary Reliance Petroleum (RPL) by transactions through the stock exchanges. The aggregate sale consideration was Rs. 4,023 crore and post-sale RIL's stake in RPL has come down to 70.99 pc from 75 pc.

Tata Steel rose by 0.63 pc to Rs 825.70 in the week. The company may reportedly pick up a 35 pc stake in its newly formed Mozambique joint venture for a consideration of Australian USD 100 million.

Reliance Communications slipped by 1.05 pc to Rs 674.85 in the week. The company reportedly plans to sell another 5 pc stake in its wireless tower business in the second such transaction in this calendar year.

Reliance Energy gained by 0.75 pc to Rs 1738.10 in the week.

The company has entered into a joint venture with the country's main transmission utility Power Grid Corporation of India to execute about 300 kilometre (km) transmission lines from Parbati to Koldam and from Koldam to Ludhiana.

DLF rose by 8.66 pc to Rs 943.90 after the company said on November 27, that it had partnered the founder of Aman Resorts for a stake in the luxury hotel chain. Aman Resorts is one of the world's leading hospitality and lifestyle business and currently owns and operates 22 luxury hotels, many with residences, in 12 countries, brokers added.

IT stocks advanced as the Indian rupee weekened against the US dollar. TCS hiked by 5.62 pc to Rs 1013.95, Wipro gained by 4.13 pc to Rs 460.30, Satyam Computers advanced by 5.57 pc to Rs 439.95 while Infosys Technologies hardened by 2.96 pc to Rs 1604.45.

Infosys Technologies expects to maintain margins in coming quarters and the US subprime crisis had not hit IT spending by US clients, the company said on Thursday.

On November 27, Mundra Port and Special Economic Zone settled at Rs 961.70 on BSE, a premium of 118.56 pc over the IPO price of Rs 440.

As per data released on November 30, 2007, the gross domestic product (GDP) rose 8.9 pc in the second quarter ended September 30, 2007, which was below a robust 9.3 pc growth recorded in the first quarter ended June 2007.

The wholesale price index rose by 3.21 pc in the 12 months to November 17, 2007, above the previous week's rise of 3.01 pc, government data released yesterday showed. The annual inflation rate was 5.56 pc during the corresponding week of the previous year.

FII outflow in the spot market till November 28 reached Rs 4872.30 crore. FIIs had made heavy purchases in September 2007 and October 2007. FIIs had bought shares worth a net Rs 16132.60 crore in September 2007 and Rs 20590.90 crore in October 2007 The National Stock Exchange (NSE) on November 28 said it has decided to add 15 stocks to futures&options (F&O) segment with effect from Friday, 30 November 2007. The 15 new inclusions for trading in F&O segment include Jindal Saw, KPIT Cummins Infosystems, Development Credit Bank, Hindustan Zinc, MICO, Info Edge, NIIT, Great Offshore, Wire&Wireless India, Redington (India), Network18 Fincap, Global Broadcast News, Ispat Industries, Hindustan Oil Exploration and Gitanjali Gems.

On Tuesday, Bombay Stock Exchange announced that it will shift 414 scrips from trade to normal rolling settlement effective from December 3, 2007. Among the stocks being shifted back to normal rolling settlement from trade to trade include ABG Heavy Industries, Aksh Optifibre, Ambalal Sarabhai Enterprise, Andrew Yule&Company, Assam Company, Birla VXL, BPL, Cable Corporation of India, Dhanalakshmi Bank, Emkay Share&Stock Brokers, Jai Corp, Jhunjhunwala Vanaspati, L.M.L., Ramkrishna Forgings. UNI