Sensex bounce to new closing peak

Mumbai: Led by a sharp rally in metal and FMCG sectors, the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex bounced back with a vengeance after a three-day slide and ended 110 points up at a new closing peak of 10,950.30 on Friday on hectic buying support in relatively low volume trade.

The BSE benchmark 30-share Index (sensex) opened on a promising note at 10,851.80 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 10,966.06 before ending the day at 10,950.30 against Thursday's close of 10,840.59, a net rise of 109.71 points or 1.01 per cent.

The sensex had lost 101 points or 0.92 per cent in the last three sessions.

Metal stocks like SAIL, Sterlite Industries, Tata Steel, Hindustan Zinc, Hindalco, Nalco, Jindal Steel and Essar Steel hogged the limelight for the second consecutive day following the overnight broad rally on London Metal Exchange (LME).

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and local mutual funds were believed to be heavy buyers in a number of key counters throughout.

Operators joined the bandwagon and covered part of their short positions in the derivatives due to approaching expiry of March contract on Thursday, brokers said.

FIIs, which have been consistent net buyers in the month, reported inflows of Rs 630.50 crore in the first three days while mutual funds pumped in Rs 375.41 crore in the same period. FIIs have pumped in nearly 5,000 crore in the month.

Heavyweights like RIL, ICICI Bank, SBI, Satyam Computer, TCS Ltd, L&T and ITC scored impressive gains.

Reflecting a sharp rally in the sector, the BSE Metal Index jumped by 277.59 points or 3.51 per cent to 8,183.52 from previous close of 7,905.93.

The BSE-FMCG Index flared up by 47.02 points or 2.29 per cent to 2,103.50 from 2,056.48.

The volume of business was relatively low at Rs 4,551.53 crore. TCS Ltd topped the list of highest traded securities with a turnover of Rs 354.39 crore followed SAIL (Rs 210.81 crore), RCVL (Rs 160.77 crore), SBI (Rs 121.70 crore) and HLL (Rs 119.61 crore).

The broad-based BSE-100 Index advanced smartly by 60.71 points to 5,746.46 from previous close of 5,685.75.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted sharply up at 1,373.54 and 512.05 at close compared to previous close of 1,359.93 and 508.23 respectively.

The BSE-500 Index firmed up by 42.67 points to 4,379.02 from last close of 4,336.35 and the Dollex-30 ended higher at 2,013.03 from 1,997.78.

Tata Steel shot up by 8.25 to 493.30, Hindalco by 9.15 to 169.80, SAIL by 7.80 to 80.85, Sterlite Ind 82.40 to 1546.75, L&T by 53.65 to 2446.35, RIL by 5.15 to 782.30, SBI by 7.70 to 982.40, ICICI Bank by 8.65 to 600.15, ITC by 7.30 to 185.40, Satyam Computer by 10.80 to 820.20, Wipro by 8.80 to 531.65, REL by 8.70 to 608.70, Tata Power by 19.15 to 588.70, TCS Ltd by 20.10 to 1893.25, Cipla by 19.90 to 626.65, Bharti Tele by 3.80 to 382.65, Ranbaxy by 9.45 to 402.60, Tata Motor by 2.20 to 907.90, Hero Honda by 4.70 to 892.10, I-Flex by 83.75 to 1380.85, ONGC by 3.05 to 1221.85 and ACC by 1.45 to 762.45.

However, BHEL dropped by 34.80 to 2161.40, Dr Reddy's Lab by 8.70 to 1431.80 and HDFC Bank by 5.70 to 735.05.