Sensex crosses 9K, surges by 257 pts

Mumbai, Nov 25 (UNI) The Sensex of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) jumped up by 257.38 points to cross the 9K-level at 9,160.50 points in the opening session today, compared with its yesterday's finish at 8,903.12, following speculative demand from Foreign Institutional Investors and others.

However, Nifty Index of National Stock Exchange (NSE) was flat at 2,708.30 points.

The Sensex had ended in the negative yesterday, down by 12.09 points at 8.903.12.

It today recorded the day's high at 9,182.80 and low at 9,056.83. At present, it was trading at 9,070.19.

The Nifty recorded the high at 2,790.70 and low at 2,707.15 in intra-day trade. Currently, it was trading at 2,753.30.

Key benchmark indices surged in the opening trade boosted by the Citigroup's bailout plan and the US President-elect Barack Obama promising to take extraordinary policy responses to save the world's largest economy from a major financial crisis. Sentiments across the globe improved after the US Government said it was prepared to lend more than USD 7.4 trillion on behalf of American taxpayers to rescue the financial system.

Global cues were strong. Asian markets surged today, after the US rescue of Citigroup bolstered badly needed confidence in the broader banking sector. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were up by between 0.13 per cent and 3.71 pc.

Volatility may rise in the coming days ahead of the derivatives expiry for November 2008 series on November 27. As per reports, rollover of Nifty positions from November to December series stood at 30 pc yesterday.

Reliance Infrastructure was up by 4.82 pc to Rs 528.90, followed by Grasim (up by 2.45 pc to Rs 930.50) and Hindalco Industries (up by 2.71 pc to Rs 53.10).

ICICI Bank jumped up by 4.31 pc to Rs 336.45 and State Bank of India gained 0.58 pc to Rs 1,153.90 and HDFC Bank rose by 4.29 pc to Rs 867.20.

But, Maruti Suzuki India was down by 0.05 pc to Rs 529.70. It was followed by DLF (down by 0.39 pc to Rs 189.90) and Hindustan Unilever (down by 0.25 pc to Rs 35.35).

UNI AR-NV SSS JTS1137