| Advancing shares outnumbered decliners by nearly three to one. |
| Brokers said the sentiment improved by late afternoon after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged to continue reforms to encourage growth while maintaining fiscal discipline. Friday's gains were on back of strong buying support in metal stocks as global metal prices firmed up, said a NSE broker. |
| Aluminium major, Hindalco gained 3.92 per cent to close at Rs 970.95, Steel Authority of India gained 15.2 per cent to Rs 26.15 and Tisco rose 7.7 per cent to close at Rs 295.95. These stocks were also in the limelight after a foreign broking firm issued a buy call on aluminium major Hindalco. |
| Index heavyweight Reliance Industries registered further contributing to the gains to the Sensex. The RIL stock ended 2.08 per cent higher to close at Rs 431.60. The counter was active following the announcement on Thursday that the company has struck gas off the Orissa coast, with reserves estimated at 4-5 trillion cubic feet. |
| RIL also announced that it has acquired Germany-based polyester firm Trevira. HLL ended 1.88 per cent lower to Rs 128. State Bank of India which turned ex-dividend ended marginally lower, 0.75 per cent to Rs 419.45. Over 37.36 lakh SBI shares were traded on BSE yesterday. |
| Bharti Tele-Ventures stock was up 5.50 per cent to Rs 133.25, recovering from its Thursday's loss on value buying, while MTNL ended 2.88 per cent higher to Rs 121.30 after losing over 8 per cent on Thursday - on fresh buying on reports that the government is considering buy-back of shares from the market, as an option prior to its merger with unlisted PSU telecom major BSNL. |
| Cement sector stocks witnessed renewed buying on bargain hunting at lower levels. Grasim was up 2.7 per cent to Rs 944.10 and Gujarat Ambuja gained 3.4 per cent to Rs 274.85. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard