MUMBAI, February 23: Pivotals rallied on the BSE today on emergence of speculative support coupled with fresh buying by foreign funds. The sensex gained 61 points. The new account started steady and share prices improved as the session progressed. The closing rates showed widespread modest to handsome gains. The volume of business remained thin. The closing undertone appeared better.The BSE sensitive index opened better at 34726.88 and improved further to finish at 3478.40 with a handsome gain of 61.10 points over the Friday's level of 3417.30.The BSE-110 index gained 18.10 points to 1501.08 from the previous level of 1471.98.
Brokers said that the sentiment was boosted following the reports that Kofi Annan signed a historic agreement with Iraq possibly preventing US military strikes against Baghdad.
The last minute euphoria was so high that operators even discounted the fresh erosion in the rupee value to 39.16/18 per dollar during the session and high badla rates around 24 per cent per annum at theturn of the settlement. The high badla rates were attributed to the possibility of the badla financiers preference to take delivery of the 50 scrips shifted to the A Group.The volume of business was sharply down at Rs 655.11 crore.
On the NSE, the market closed on a buoyant note and pivotals gained smartly. The Nifty ended at 1009.60, showing a net gain of 15.95 points over the previous close of 993.65. The Midcap registered a gain of 21.30 points to 1127.30 against the previous close of 1106.00. Total turnover during the day was Rs 902.24 crore.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
