Bull charge continues

STOCKS REPORT

Sustained buying coupled with lack of selling helped the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed at a new all-time high on Tuesday.

Blue chips saw good buying support with mid-cap counters also attracting attention. Auto, banking, consumer durables and PSU scrips were among the biggest gainers on Tuesday.

Brokers said that lack of sustained selling pressure and strong foreign fund inflows have helped the market post record highs.

Expectations of healthy growth in corporate earnings is also helping the positive sentiment. They added that most factors have been discounted and the market seems to have peaked for the time being and investors should look to book profits.

"The benchmark index may remain rangebound in the near term, however, stock specific stories will continue to be seen."

Brokers said that institutions, mainly foreign, were buyers in frontline scrips while retail action was seen in the mid-cap counters on Tuesday.

Opening in positive territory, the market witnessed some volatility, falling into negative territory briefly in intra-day trades, they added. The breadth of the market was positive with gainers outpacing losers 11:7. In the Sensex basket, 24 out of the 30 scrips closed higher.

Market players said that the mood remains optimistic on the back of sustained foreign fund inflows. Foreign funds were net sellers of Indian shares worth Rs 49.40 crore on Monday but have made net purchases of Rs 4,279.70 crore in December so far, data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India show.

The BSE Sensex hit a high of 6,461.64 points and a low of 6,400.56 in intra-day trades before closing at 6,451.30, up 48.30 points from Monday's close.

Volumes were marginally higher than on Monday in the cash segment; the BSE reported a turnover of Rs 2,207.40 crore and the NSE reported a turnover of Rs 5,056.18 crore.

The Hero Honda scrip was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, surging 6.80 per cent to close at Rs 557.15, followed by Tata Power, up 3.82 per cent to Rs 387.20, Bajaj Auto gained 3.72 per cent to Rs 1,099.60, ITC gained 3.53 per cent to Rs 1,309.65 and Bharti Tele-Ventures was up 2.10 per cent to Rs 199.35. HLL was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 2.40 per cent to close at Rs 144.50, followed by L&T, down 0.74 per cent to Rs 975.40, HDFC fell 0.64 per cent to Rs 776.95, Satyam was down 0.61 per cent to Rs 416.85 and Ranbaxy fell 0.52 per cent to close at Rs 1,248.85.