Sensex rises by 72 pts in opening session

Mumbai, Nov 26 (UNI) The 30-scrip Sensex of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today recovered by 72.67 points at 8,695.53 points in the opening session, against the previous close of 8,695.53, on fresh speculative demand from mutual funds and bullish phase on the Asian markets.

Yesterday, it had ended in red with a loss of 207.59 points.

Later, the Sensex eased by 2.58 points at 8,692.95. It recorded the day's high at 8,828.12 and low at 8,684.95 points.

However, Nifty index of National Stock Index (NSE) opend flat at 2,652.45. Its high was at 2,689.30 and low at 2,649.50 points in the intra-day trade. Currently, it was steady at 2,652.65.

Most Asian markets were trading firm today. The US central bank will purchase as much as USD 600 billion in debt issued or backed by government-chartered housing finance companies.

Among heavyweights, Wipro (up by 1.85 pc to Rs 233), Bharti Airtel (up by 2.17 pc to Rs 640.05), Grasim (up by 1.19 pc to Rs 907.30), HDFC Bank (up by 1.78 pc to Rs 850), State Bank of India (up by 0.50 pc to Rs 1,077.50), HDFC (up by 1.47 pc to Rs 1,370), Reliance Industries (RIL) (up by 1.05 pc to Rs 10) -- all surged.

However, other metal shares such as Hindalco Industries (down by 2.5 pc to Rs 50.05), Tata Steel (down by 2.16 pc to Rs 147.10), Mahindra&Mahindra (down by 2.65 pc to Rs 269.80), Jaiprakash Associates (down by 2 pc to Rs 53.60) and Reliance Communications (down by 1.51 pc to Rs 192.60) edged lower among the Sensex pack.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers worth Rs 161.88 crore, while mutual funds bought shares worth Rs 155.09 crore yesterday, according to provisional data on NSE.

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