MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 21: The stage is set for a strong opening on Tuesday, with a buy order pending for close to one lakh shares of Hindustan Lever. This comes on the back of a 155 points rally in the BSE Sensex on Monday, mainly on the news of a split in the index-heavyweight scrip. However, according to one market player, some amount of selling might set in during the latter part of Tuesday on the NSE, being the last day of trading in the current settlement on the exchange.Apart from the HLL factor, a Rs 207 crore net FII inflow last Friday and the continuing rally in infotech stocks are also expected to push the markets to higher levels. According to one dealer with a domestic broking house, the rally in the `trading trio' - Himachal Futuristics, Global Tele and Silverline is also expected to remain alive for some more time.
Thanks to huge buying in HLL, the Sensex showed an impressive rally of 155.24 points on Monday. HLL opened at the upper circuit and remained there throughout the day. As for the software sector, the demand failed to show signs of a slowdown. As a result of huge buying from both domestic and foreign institutional investors, a large number of software stocks hit new highs. Wipro opened at the upper circuit, and remained there for a major part of the day. Other stocks like Silverline, Rolta, DSQ Software, Pentafour Software, Global Telesystems, Himachal Futuristic and Polaris hit the upper circuit. Stocks like Digital Equipment, HCL Infosys and Satyam Computers also showed impressive gains.
The bullish sentiment can be gauged by the advance-decline figure. While the number of advances stood at 1473, the declines was at 777. At the same time, around 178 stocks remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, for the Sensex, HLL provided the major boost. It opened at 5874 points and immediately hit a peak of 5941.9. The close was at 5876 points, whereas the low for the day was 5834.51 points. The trading volume on the BSE was Rs 4788 crore, while on the NSE, it was Rs 5999 crore.
Other stocks like Infosys, NIIT, Ranbaxy, SBI, Bhel, and MTNL also provided some help. However, stocks like Reliance, ITC, and L&T showed a lower close.
Meanwhile, stocks like Zee Telefilms, Reliance Capital, Synergy Login, Mirc Electric, Jain Studio, BSEL Info, Boss Ind, Sun Pharma, Telco, Bajaj Auto, HLL, Nirma, LCC Infotech, Fujitsu, Lupin Lab, Thirumalai, Cybertech, Filmcity Media, Ranbaxy, Colgate-Palmolive, Essel Packaging, Mcdowell, Voltas, Usha Beltron, Salora International, Nicholas Piramal, Pentafour Products, IDBI Bank, Sonata Software, Alpha Drugs, Southern Herbal, Infotech Enterprise, Clariant remained the star performers.
Stocks like Grasim, Rama Newsprint, E.Merck, Apollo Hospitals, Maral Overseas, Elder Health, Ashok Leyland Finance, Milton Plastics and Hindustan Construction remained under selling pressure.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.