Mumbai, Mar 19: The swearing-in of the new government brought in mixed reaction among market participants. Though the indices failed to mirror the mood, prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's decision to keep the key finance portfolio with himself left a positive impact on market sentiments.The 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensitive Index moved in the band of 3,802.50 and 3,852.50 points, the intra-day's low and high respectively, to finally close at 3,820.87, a loss of 4.15 points over Wednesday's close.
According to market sources, multinational and pharmaceutical stocks led the rally at the local bourses, backed by continuous bouts of purchases by foreign-institutional investors (FIIs) like Morgan Stanley, Oppenheimer and Jardine.
They were rumoured to have bought huge chunks of stocks of Nestle, Britannia, MTNL, German Remedies, Telco, Dr Reddy's, TVS Suzuki, Pfizer, Cadbury's, Procter & Gamble and Infosys Technologies.Sources say select FIIs have obtained the Reserve Bank's permission toincrease their stake in Infosys.
``The pessimism has vanished from the market. It is now looking for direction,'' said a fund manager at an FII brokerage firm.
Although the market was agog with rumours of local institutions adopting a wait-and-watch attitude, Unit Trust of India was reportedly placing huge buy orders at the Glaxo and BPCL counters.
Rumours of finalisation of the deal for Nocil's sale set the counter on fire. The stock touched the circuit's upper-end at Rs 38.40 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Sources say an open offer for the company could be placed in the band of Rs 55-Rs 60.
The announcement of Nestle's half-year results saw local and foreign- institutional players rushing to make positions at the counter. Reflecting the move, the stock continued to attract the upper-end of the price-band on both the bourses.
On the BSE, the stock touched Rs 412.25, with over 2.08 lakh shares outstanding.Most pivotals, however, continued to be hammered down by local operators in a bid to getout of the positions a day ahead of the last day of settlement on the BSE.
The auction of 83,000 ITC shares on the NSE saw the stock rise by over Rs 2 on the Bombay Stock Exchange during the last phase of the session to close at Rs 728.50.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
