Mumbai, Aug 2: Lacklustre trend continued for the third straight day on Tuesday, but market players see this as a consolidation phase. At the final count, the BSE Sensex closed 7.19 points up at 4260.88. Cement stocks were in the limelight with most of the pivotal counters from the sector, including ACC, Grasim, Gujarat Ambuja, India Cement and L&T, picking up smart gains and closing with high volumes. Dealers say a number of FIIs are bullish on cement stocks, which is driving the counters.According to brokers, the market is in midst of a consolidation phase and a short rally of 200-300 points could be expected from the current levels.
According to Hiten Sampat at Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services, technically, the market is in a consolidation mode and "We can expect a short rally from the current levels." Agrees Chirag Sanghvi at Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediaries. According to Sanghvi, ``the supply of papers has also come down substantially, so an uptrend from the current level is a strong possibility.''
According to dealers, Wednesday's market also showed resistance against the negative news, which came in during the market hours. For one, the weakeing rupee is a major cause for worry for the market, yet the markets did not slide. Secondly, escalation of violence in Jammu and Kashmir and the news of more killings came in during the trading hours. But the market withstood the negatives and, though minimal, ended in the positive territory, pointed out an institutional dealer.
Dealers expect that once the rupee stabilises, the FIIs will come back to the market. According to Sampat, it might take a month or so before the FIIs return. ``And the phenomenon is pan-Asian, not specific to India, so the cause for worry is not much,'' said Sampat. According to Sebi's FII investment figures, the foreign investors had pulled out Rs 77.8 crore from the Indian equities on the first day of the current month.
On Wednesday, values opened weak in the morning, and remained under pressure during the first half of the day. The weakness was evident in software stocks. The trading volume also remained at low levels. While the first half was dull for the market, stocks like Satyam Comp, Infosys, Wipro, Zee Tele showed a sharp rally in the last one hour of trading. A few stocks also managed to show a positive close. Other stocks like Reliance, ITC, HLL, and Tisco remained dull for a major part of the day.
The Sensex opened at 4224 points, touched a low of 4193.58 points, and closed at 4260.88 points. The high for the day was 4264.17 points.
Similarly, the S&P CNX Nifty gained 5 points, and closed at 1332.20 points. The high for the day was 1333.85 points, whereas the low for the day was 1312.25 points.
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