Blue chips on a roll

STOCKS REPORT

Select buying in blue chips helped the market close firmly in the positive territory. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed higher but traded volume remained low. A lack of strong impetus is playing spoilsport, brokers said.

Auto, capital goods, technology and consumer durables counters were among the biggest gainers on Monday while select pharma and cement scrips witnessed selling pressure.

The BSE Sensex hit a high of 6532.17 and a low of 6456.97 in intra-day trades before finally closing at 6528.03 points, up 76.49 points (1.19 per cent) from its previous close. The BSE small-cap index was up 1.69 per cent and the mid-cap index gained 0.97 per cent.

A dealer from K R Choksey Securities said, "Investors are staying away from taking big buy calls but an absence of selling pressure helped the market record gains on Monday."

Investors are awaiting some fresh impetus and the monsoon will now be closely watched, he added. Lower international oil prices also helped sentiment on Monday, analysts said. Among frontline counters, 22 out of the 30-scrip Sensex basket, closed higher.

The breadth of the market was also positive with gainers outpacing losers 2:1 on the BSE. Volumes were lower than on Friday, with a turnover of Rs 2,043.57 crore recorded on the BSE and Rs 3,866.95 crore on the NSE.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 191 crore on Friday while domestic mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 286.40 crore.

Bajaj Auto was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, rising 4.67 per cent to close at Rs 1,191.55, followed by Maruti Udyog, up 4.41 per cent to Rs 453.80, Wipro gained 3.64 per cent to Rs 659.20, Tata Motors was up 3.55 per cent to Rs 447.95 and BHEL gained 3.16 per cent to Rs 861.45.

Zee Telefilms was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 2.38 per cent to close at Rs 153.75, Ranbaxy Labs was down 0.92 per cent to Rs 973.45, Grasim fell by 0.77 per cent to Rs 1,136.10, Cipla was down 0.67 per cent to Rs 280.30 and HDFC was down 0.38 per cent to Rs 765.25.