Sensex resumes rally with rise of 73 points
OUR MARKET BUREAU
MUMBAI, Dec 29: The rally in the stock market resumed on Monday with the Sensex scoring another smart rise of 73 points. The 10-day rally in the market has seen the Sensex rising from around 3,329 points to the current level of 3,706 points - a rise of over 10 per cent.Brokers said a few foreign funds were actively buying into select stocks for their NAV valuations. The BSE Sensex touched a high of 3,709 points and closed near these levels at 3,706.79 points. The NSE-50 index or Nifty touched a high of 1,081.50 points before settling to a close of 1,080.50 points. Telco stole the show, recording an increase of 10 per cent and thereby hitting the circuit breaker on both NSE and BSE. The scrip moved up from Rs 275 to Rs 304 largely on account of heavy FII purchases. Brokers said this was on account of the company's sound fundamentals. "Investors would be interested in it on a long-term view," said a broker. Led by State Bank of India, banking scrips have bounced back on the bourses. Banking majors
were substantial losers and their recovery in the current rally was slow. But on Monday, the State Bank of India saw its rise continued, closing the day at Rs 243. The scrip has gained around 20 per cent since it recovered from its recent low of Rs 207.75 on December 10. Oriental Bank maintained its uptrend closing the day at Rs 65.75. Thanks to the current rally, the scrip has recovered by nearly 30 per cent from its all-time low of Rs 50 early December. Most banking scrips in the B1 group too have recovered from their lows, Bank of India gradually inching back towards its offer price (Rs 45) level, though it closed at Rs 40.25. HDFC Bank, which saw a high of Rs 85 during October, saw profit-booking pulling the scrip down to around Rs 69 on December 12. Since then it has moved back to around Rs 80. The LML counter saw a huge volume of 23 lakh shares. The prices also moved up 3.5 per cent. The stock has been steadily moving up in the last few trading sessions. On Monday, the scrip moved up from Rs 96
to a high of Rs 102 on anticipation of good half-yearly results. Other stocks which saw substantial activity were HDFC, BHEL, HPCL, BPCL, Colgate and M&M. In the B group of BSE, stocks like CESC and Bank of Rajasthan, made steady gains to hit the circuit filter. The Concor scrip witnessed a sustained demand and, in fact, saw an order of 10,000 shares placed on the counter, that too on the screen. The scrip is, however, considered to be highly illiquid. Dealers said that there could be a temporary correction over the next couple of days and the Sensex rise may be shortlived. "We do not see a fall beyond 150 points in the Sensex as the underlying trend in the market is very much bullish," said a dealer from a leading institutional brokerage. "India will score higher in terms of better allocations from foreign funds as compared to other south-Asian countries," he added.
Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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