| After Tuesday's carnage, the stock market on Wednesday seemed to be awaiting the election results. Bargain hunting at lower levels helped the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex close at 5,358.35, 0.61 per cent (32.45 points) higher than Tuesday's close. |
| Domestic financial institutions and mutual funds stepped up purchases even though foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers for the second consecutive day, pressing gross sales of more than Rs 1,000 crore today. |
| This is the seventh time in the current calendar year and sixth time in the last one month that FII selling topped Rs 1,000 crore plus in a day. Interestingly, the FII selling never topped Rs 1,000 crore in the whole of calendar 2003. Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) picked up stocks worth Rs 300-400 crore in the last two days. |
| "We find the stock market very attractive at these levels and will continue (buying)," said LIC Managing Director R N Bhardwaj. The country's largest insurance company is eyeing automobile, pharmaceutical, oil and bank stocks. |
| The other big-ticket buyer, UTI Mutual Fund, has also been selectively picking stocks in the falling market. |
| A K Sridhar, chief investment officer, UTI MF, said: "We have been net buyers in the last 12 trading sessions and have invested nearly Rs 420 crore in equity. There are many stocks that look attractive at current levels and we have used the opportunity when the market tanked." |
| Kotak Mutual Fund, one of the few funds that has been sitting on at least 30 per cent of its corpus in cash against the industry average of 3-4 per cent, has also been buying at lower levels. |
| Ajay Bagga, chief executive officer, Kotak Mutual Fund, said, "We were sitting on cash since the beginning of the month, but we bought stock in the last two days as valuations looked fairly attractive on many counters." |
| In fact, the mutual fund industry was a net buyer to the tune of Rs 239 crore in the last two trading session in contrast to FIIs, which have sold aggressively amid concerns about election results. Technology counters were in the limelight today, boosted by overnight gains on the Nasdaq, while sentiment on export-driven counters was also boosted by the rupee's recent weakness. |
| The BSE IT sector index was the largest gainer today, gaining 1.08 per cent. Tech pivotal Wipro was up 1.34 per cent to Rs 1,528.40, Infosys Technologies gained 0.70 per cent to Rs 5,090.35 and Satyam Computer was up 0.03 per cent to Rs 296.85. |
| The breadth of the market was positive today, with gainers outpacing losers 9:7 on the BSE. The 30-scrip Sensex basket saw 22 scrips closing higher. |
| Marketmen said the sentiment reflected caution ahead of the counting of votes tomorrow. |
| Despite initial volatility in early trades, the market was steady in the second half of the session. Said a dealer at a local brokerage, "Political uncertainty and other factors such as fears of an imminent hike in the US interest rates and rising oil prices played on sentiment." |
| He added that the market might have now discounted any result that the final counting could throw up. The traded volume was marginally higher than yesterday: with the cash market turnover at Rs 2,082 crore on the BSE and Rs 4,798.61 crore on the NSE. |
| Heavyweights Reliance Industries was up 1.40 per cent to Rs 496.60, Hindustan Lever was up 1.06 per cent to Rs 142.40 and State Bank of India was up 0.58 per cent to Rs 620.80. |
| The two biggest losers in the Sensex basket were HDFC, which fell 4.41 per cent to Rs 582.70 and Hindalco, which fell 2.58 per cent to Rs 966.90. |
| Bargain buying was seen among cement, automobile and metal stocks. ACC was up 3.61 per cent to Rs 277.20 and L&T was up 2.64 per cent to Rs 541.95. Tata Motors was up 2.74 per cent to Rs 440.60 and Bajaj Auto gained 2.49 per cent to Rs 935.85. |
| Different strokes |
|
Top Section
Explore Business Standard