Poll views provide fillip

STOCKS REPORT

Boosted by the opinion poll results that the BJP-led NDA may recover in the final leg of the general elections, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed at 5647.15, gaining 1.11 per cent (62.16 points) over its previous close.

Trading in positive territory for the entire session, the Sensex hit an intra-day high of 5,677.11. The breadth of the market was extremely positive, with gainers outpacing losers 1292:409. The Sensex basket saw 23 out of 30 scrips closing higher.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty gained 26.40 points to close at 1,793.10.

Bargain hunting in old economy and commodities counters - which had seen severe selling pressure since the first phase of polling began, led the recovery on the bourses yesterday.

The BSE PSU index was the biggest gainer, up 2.84 per cent. The IT index was up 2.01 per cent, capital goods index and the Teck index gained 1.80 per cent and the Bankex was up 1.19 per cent.

Traded volumes were lower with the cash market turnover at Rs 1,885.21 crore on the BSE and Rs 4,353.94 crore on the NSE.

Hanu Bhatia, vice president, Parag Parikh Securities, said, " A swing of opinion in favour of the NDA-led to a creation of positive environment before the third phase of polling begins tomorrow."

Brokers said that bargain buying at the lower levels led to the gains after the recent falls amid political uncertainty and fears of a slowdown in Chinese demand.

ONGC was up 2.84 per cent to close at Rs 841.50, HPCL gained 2.59 per cent to Rs 451.65, MTNL was up 2.23 per cent to Rs 146.90 and BHEL was up 1.85 per cent to Rs 587.20.

ACC gained 5.13 per cent to Rs 285.70, Gujarat Ambuja Cements was up 4.07 per cent to Rs 336.50 and L&T was up 2.55 per cent to Rs 564.05.

Heavyweight State Bank of India was up 3.52 per cent to Rs 640.25 and Punjab National Bank rose 6.87 percent to Rs 381.

Satyam Computer rose 4.60 per cent to Rs 324.35, Wipro was up 2.68 per cent to Rs 1,594 and Infosys Technologies gained 0.64 per cent to Rs 5216.40.

Hindalco surged 3.42 per cent to Rs 1,102.95 and Tata Steel gained 2.16 per cent to Rs 349.40.

Hero Honda was up 2.68 per cent to Rs 474.60 and Tata Motors gained 1.96 per cent to Rs 475.

ICICI Bank was the largest loser in the Sensex basket, down 2.54 per cent to Rs 306.85 followed by Cipla down l 1.76 per cent to Rs 1,373.70 and ITC down 1.36 per cent to Rs 1,061.50.