Mumbai, Feb 13: Shortcovering coupled with genuine buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) at index-based stocks saw the 30-share BSE Sensitive index surge by 79.64 points to close at 3,373.53 on Friday. The Nifty Index closed higher at 974.55 points, recording a smart recovery of 17.90 points over Thursday's close.Brokers said operators rushed to cover their positions on news that the NSE would remain closed on Febraury 16 on account of elections. Shortcovering was also seen on the BSE as today was the last day of the current settlement.
According to market sources, the rally was led by FIIs who took positions at counters like Hindustan Lever, Pond's, Nestle, Coats Viyella and Orchid Chemicals. Lakme, on the other hand, nosedived by 10 per cent to touch the lower-end price band on the local bourses at Rs 252. On the BSE, the stock had a net outstanding sale order of 70,100 shares at the circuit price. NSE saw a sale order of 45,850 shares.
Morgan Stanley was reported to have bought one lakhshares of Nestle offered on the NSE's Trade-to-Trade segment by UTI at a price of Rs 300 per share. Brokers said Jardine Fleming and Credit Lyonnais were reported to have picked up HLL shares in large numbers. Nestle closed at Rs 315, registering a gain of 8 per cent over Thursday's close.
HLL zoomed to touch an intra-day high of Rs 1,508 before closing at Rs 1,506, registering a net gain of Rs 126 over the previous day's close. The volumes at the counter touched a high of 8.62 lakh shares on the BSE and 17.55 lakh shares on the NSE. Considering the weightage of HLL in the Sensex, market sources said the sharp rise in the index was on account of the rally at the HLL counter. At Rs 126 crore, HLL contributed 20 per cent to BSE's turnover. Pond's moved up smartly to close at Rs 1,068 on the BSE with a volume of 2.28 lakh shares. Hectic trading was also seen at the ITC counter, with the share quoting at a premium on the BSE, reflecting the backwardation charges attracted by the scrip.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
