Sensex hits a new peak at 8200 points

STOCK REPORT

The surge in key indices continued unabated for the eleventh straight session on Tuesday. The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex hit an all-time high of 8202.04 points and the National Stock Exchange's Nifty touched a record high of 2503. The major gainers were automobile, oil and bank stocks. Activity was largely stock-specific.

The 30-share Sensex ended at 8193.96, up 55.54 points, or 0.7 per cent, over Tuesday. The 50-share Nifty closed at 2500.35, up 16.20 points, or 0.7%. Both the indices ended at new closing highs.

While the indices closed with healthy gains, the market was flat in choppy trade at mid-day.

Dealers said the market was abuzz with rumours of new India-focused funds from Korea and the UK making an entry. This boosted the sentiment further. The market also lapped up Finance Minister P Chidambaram's statement that India's agricultural growth in 2005-06 is likely to be considerably higher than 1.1 per cent in 2004-05.

The gainers were led by Indian Petrochemicals Corp, up 4.7 per cent at Rs 206.85. There was also talk that a leading brokerage has come out with a 'buy' recommendation on IPCL shares. According to some technical analysts, today's surge in the IPCL stock was because of a technical break-out. The stock may hit Rs 220 this week, they said.

"Interest has come back into frontline shares and the Sensex is finding good support at 8000 levels," said Praveen Malik, senior vice-president, Rolta Shares and Stocks. Notably, the Sensex has not closed below 8000 since it first hit that mark on Thursday.

"Valuations are not that expensive. Surely, the market is being driven by liquidity. But the liquidity is pouring in because the fundamentals of the economy are strong," said Malik.

Shares of oil marketing companies like Bharat Petroleum Corp. and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. rose around 2 per cent and 1 per cent, respectively. This was a reaction to crude oil prices falling below $64 per barrel in the international markets.

Bajaj Auto, Maruti Udyog and Tata Motors with 3 per cent, 2 per cent and 1 per cent rise, respectively, were among the gainers in automobile stocks. Pulling down the sentiment for automobile shares were Mahindra & Mahindra and Hero Honda, both shedding around 1 per cent each.

All the frontline bank shares ended in positive territory, with HDFC Bank rising 1.5 per cent to Rs 687.25.

The CNX IT Index rose 0.4 per cent to 3238.35 while the CNX Midcap Index rose 0.6 per cent to 3832.50.