MUMBAI, July 31: Pivotals led by ITC and others firmed up further on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today pushing the Sensex up by over 60 points in brisk activity in the wake of hectic short covering and aggressive purchases by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs).

The BSE sensitive index opened higher at 4252.37 and rose sharply to cross 4300-mark at the intra-day high of 4331.58, before closing at 4305.76 with a net gain of 60.87 points compared to the previous of 4244.89. The BSE-100 index also shot up by 23.41 points to 1873.68 from 1850.37.

Brokers said the sentiment improved further mainly on buying in ITC with foreign funds as well as bull operators following reports that the company's net profit had shown a steep rise of 34% in the first quarter coupled with speculation that the net was even more but was kept at a conservative level.The rally was also attributed to expectations of stability at the centre with the surrender of former Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav yesterday. Besides ITC, index-based shares like MTNL, Reliance, SBI, SAIL, Telco scored impressive gains. However, others like Tata Steel, Hindustan Lever, Gujarat A Cement showed moderate falls.

ITC recorded highest turnover of Rs 339.64 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 1001.03 crore followed by Reliance Rs 168.89 crore, SBI Rs 140.31 crore, Tata Steel Rs 84.39 crore and Castrol Rs 32.34 crore. ITC spurted up by Rs 42.75 to 515. Reliance gained Rs 4.25 to 357.25, SBI Rs 6.75 to 323 and Castrol Rs 8 to 688. MTNL gained Rs 17, ACC Rs 35.50, BHEL Rs 7.75, Century Textiles Rs 67.76 and Ranbaxy Rs 12 on speculative support. However, Tats Steel lost Rs 1.25 at 218.50 on profit-taking. Hindustan Lever dipped Rs 5.75 to 1418.75 and Bajaj Auto Rs 5 to 894 on selling pressure.On the NSE, share prices shot up on heavy speculative buying. The total turnover crossed the Rs 2000 crore-mark. The NSE-50 index closed at 1221.50 showing a notable gain of 23.60. The Midcap index settled at 1322.00, depicting a gain of 13.15. The turnover was higher at Rs 2117.79 crore.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.