Chinese rate fears overcome

STOCKS REPORT

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex ended up 31.83 points at 5,704.10 on Monday, in a day marked by volatile movements in the index.

The gains in the index were mainly due to fresh buying in technology and bank stocks. The index opened at 5,678.65 and went to a low of 5,649.03 during intra-day deals.

The broader Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) ended up 10.85 points at 1,797.75. The markets opened weak, still suffering from the hangover of last Friday's fall. But towards afternoon, there was a perk-up in the sentiment and the index rose with fresh buying coming in, though it was selective, dealers said.

Much of the buoyancy was due to the market shrugging off the threat posed by the hike in interest rates by China.

"Investors, mainly, corporates, feel that the impact on the prices of commodities due to the Chinese rate hike is exaggerated. Further, improved sales figures by automobile companies lifted the sentiment," they said. The buying spree in banking stocks, largely in state-owned banks, led to the BSE Bankex going up by more than 28 points.

Among banking stocks, State Bank of India went up 4.81 per cent to close at Rs 468.85 on the back of impressive results announced by the company on Saturday.

Bank of India shares also went up by 4.91 per cent to end the day at Rs 53.40, while Punjab National Bank's shares went up by 1.41 per cent to close at Rs 248.50.

Among private sector banks, the main gainer was HDFC Bank (Rs 420.15). Dealers said it was tracking the performance of its American depositary shares on the NYSE.

Stocks in the technology sector showed a mixed sentiment. The BSE IT Sector index closed at 2,393.38, up by nearly 24 points. Among technology stocks, Infosys went up by 2.13 per cent to close at Rs 1,947.10.

Patni Computers rose 5.23 per cent to close at Rs 359.90, while TCS closed up 1.44 per cent to close at Rs 1,171. Both Satyam and Wipro were down marginally.