Sensex ends high at 15,757.08 up by 413.96 pts

Mumbai, Apr 7: The 30-scrip Sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange today ended firm at 15,757.08 with a gain of 413.96 from its last close of 15,343.12 points on strong buying support in frontline stocks by Foreign Institutional Investors and domestic investors on strong Asian cues.

Asian stocks nudged higher as a worse-than-expected US payrolls data last Friday, which showed a fall of 80,000 jobs in March 2008, raised expectations of further interest rate cut by the US Federal Reserve. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan were up by between 0.4 per cent to 4.45 per cent.

US equities held steady last Friday after the poor showing in employment and despite worries about banking sector earnings. Trading for the week started on a buoyant note with the Sensex clocking handsome gains today after it had slumped 1,028 points last week. IT, banking, metal and FMCG stocks rose. ICICI Bank and Ranbaxy Laboratories were major gainers from the Sensex pack.

Maruti Suzuki India and Ambuja Cements were major losers from the Sensex pack. The market breadth was strong. All the sectoral indices on the BSE were in green. Leading heavyweights, including Banks, FMCG and metal stocks zoomed up on renewed purchases by local operators.

Technology, telecom, FMCG, banking, oil, realty and pharma stocks were among the top gainers. Midcaps and small cap indices were relative underperformers but managed to close in green. Capital goods were under lot of pressure and continued to underperform in today's session.

ICICI Bank, SBI and Wipro were among the top gainers, up by over 5.5 per cent each. Bharti Airtel, Suzlon, ITC, Wipro, Ranbaxy Labs, Satyam and Tata Communication were other gainers on the bourses while Maruti, BHEL and ABB were the top losers.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended up by 413.96 points or 2.70 per cent at 15,757.08. At the day's high of 15,851.88, the Sensex rose 508.76 points in mid-afternoon trade. At the day's low of 15,321.56, the Sensex lost 21.56 points in early trade.

The broader based S&P CNX Nifty index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) was up 114.20 points or 2.46 pc at 4,761.20 at the end of session from its last close of 4647.00 points.

The BSE clocked a total turnover of Rs 49, 271.27 crore today compared to a turnover of Rs 49, 166.33 crore on last trading on April 4. Similarly, the NSE cash turnover was at Rs 12,015.33 crore and the NSE F&O turnover was at Rs 32,302.8 crore.

About 1574 shares advanced, 1116 shares declined, and 381 shares were unchanged.

BSE indices were also in limelight like topline METAL Index rose by 371.21 and ended firm at 13,811.56 points followed by OIL&GAS Index also by 267.48 at 10,550.12 points, REALITY index by 136.60 to 7483.56 points, CG index by 135.58 to 12,755.93 points, CD inded by 96.23 to 3913.88 points, HC index by 94.83 to 3940.66 points, PSU index by 93.09 at 7269.14 points, FMCG index by 91.81 to 2384.57 points and MID Index by 81.87 and ended at 6,344.72 points.

Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman C.B. Bhave today said Sebi will hold a meeting with foreign funds and their custodians to discuss issues regarding the proposed margins imposed on institutional investors. Sebi had said last month that institutional investors will be required to pay a margin on trades executed in the cash market by the next day, effective from April 21, brokers said.
Banking stocks galloped with ICICI Bank up by 6.06 per cent to Rs 810 followed by State Bank of India by 4.77 pc to Rs 1,682 and HDFC Bank by 0.88 pc to Rs 1,303.50. FMCG stocks spurted. United Spirits rose by 5.27 pc to Rs 1,669.90, ITC gained by 5 pc to Rs 210.85 and Hindustan Unilever increased by 5.15 pc to Rs 254.

Metal stocks like National Alluminium Company was up by 4.38 pc to Rs 450, followed by Sterlite Industries by 4 pc to Rs 764, Tata Steel by 2.85 pc to Rs 679.50, Hindalco Industries by 2.58 pc to Rs 173 and Steel Authority of India by 1.85 pc to Rs 167.70.

India's largest IT services exporter by sales, Tata Consultancy Services rose by 3.44 pc to Rs 900.10. The company has signed a new multi-year contract with Chrysler LLC to provide a comprehensive portfolio of IT services. Wipro was up by 4.91 pc to Rs 436.

Reliance Industries rose by 3.6 pc to Rs 2,405.70. As per reports, Reliance Industries is planning to enter into the rig manufacturing business besides investing USD 2.5 billion to enter into petrocoke gasification.

Reliance Communications was up by 1.17 pc to Rs 506. It has reportedly formed a joint venture with a local firm to launch GSM mobile services in Sri Lanka by this year-end.

India's largest state-run oil exploration firm in terms of revenue, ONGC rose by 1.19 pc to Rs 1,017.85. ONGC Videsh (OVL), the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corporations (ONGC), will reportedly sign an agreement tomorrow to take a 40 pc stake in the San Cristobal oilfield in Venezuela. OVL will make a total investment of $355.7 million comprising signature bonus of $173.1 million for the stake, the reports added.

Tata Motors increased by 3.1 pc to Rs 632.65 on reports it had raised the price of trucks and buses by an average of 3.5 pc from April one to offset higher raw material costs.

Bharti Airtel gained by 4.41 pc to Rs 818.40 followed by Ranbaxy Laboratories by 5.59 pc to Rs 483.85, Jaiprakash Associates by 4.84 pc to Rs 231.95 and Grasim Industries by 3.39 pc to Rs 2627.55.

However, a few heavyweight sensex scrips like Maruti Suzuki India was down by 0.57 pc to Rs 759.90, Reliance Energy eased by 0.3 pc to Rs 1,162.90 and Ambuja Cements eased by 0.84 pc to Rs 118.10.

Sita Shree Food Products was trading at a premium of 46.33 pc at Rs 43.90 on BSE on its debut today. The company had priced the IPO at the top end of Rs 27 to Rs 30 price band, brokers added.

UNI