Sensex spurts 89 pts on FII buying

Sensex spurts 89 pts on FII buying
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

MUMBAI, FEB 2: Share values spurted on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today on foreign fund buying and follow-up purchases by speculators. Sensex gained 1.71 per cent or 89.38 points as sharp overnight gains in US markets and reports of positive foreign fund flows triggered a rally. The market was also enthused by the government's announcement on Tuesday that it would relax rules on foreign investment.

Sensex (BSE sensitive index) started firm at 5264.62 and moved 5342.98 and 5264.62, before closing at 5304.92, with a net gain of 89.38 points from the previous close of 5215.54. The BSE-100 index, surpassed the 3,000 mark and closed higher by 78.10 points at 3013.20 from the previous close of 2935.10. The trend was similar at the NSE and the Nifty also posted gains of about 38.50 points from the previous close of 1549.50.

Brokers said the sentiment was boosted by the government's decision for foreign direct investment in all sectors barring few with players resorting heavy buying in infotech and selectkey scrips while the major indices registering handsome gains. Preliminary BSE data showed advancing stocks beat declining ones 1,068 to 801 while 176 were unchanged. Speculators also built fresh positions on the first day of the new account at the NSE. Foreign funds were net equity buyers to the tune of $ 55.9 million in the month of January, the market regulator SEBI said.

The major gainers in Sensex were Hindustan Lever, ICICI, ACC, Mahindra, BHEL, Hindalco, Larsen, HPCL and Ranbaxy while Castrol and Novartis turned out major losers during the day. The total turnover amounted to Rs 4518.48 crore. Zee Telefilm topped the list of turnover by registering the highest turnover of Rs 506.55 crore, Global Tele Rs 407.54 crore, Silverline Rs 361.04 crore and Satyam Computer Rs 337.61 crore.

Infotech stocks, however, showed a mixed trend on alternate bouts of buying and selling by institutional investors in order to change their portfolios. Wipro was the star performer on the news that the company had signed astrategic deal with the world's largest software company, Microsoft Corporation.