Sensex vaults past 8000

STOCK REPORT

Key indices ended at record highs, as bulls scored a convincing victory over bears for the seventh successive session on Thursday.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Sensex zoomed past the psychological 8000-mark. With the 106 points rise on Thursday, gains in Sensex have exceeded 5 per cent in seven straight sessions.

The Sensex ended at 8052.56, up 105.78 points or 1.33 per cent. The National Stock Exchange's Nifty rose 25.80 points or 1.06 per cent to close at 2454.45. Intra-day, Sensex touched a record high of 8060.26, while the Nifty touched a lifetime high of 2456.90.

Broadbased buying led to a strong opening for the indices, with both the Sensex and the Nifty opening at record highs. Easing of global crude oil prices, to around $65 from $70 last week, coupled with steady foreign and local fund buying also supported the upsurge, dealers said.

Dealers said large number of block deals on the BSE helped boost volumes, which were otherwise lower than usual. The total traded turnover, on BSE and NSE combined, stood at Rs 95 billion.

"Across the board buying and steady inflow of funds from both foreign institutional investors and domestic mutual funds provided positive momentum to the indices," said Vinay Goel, assistant vice-president at KJMC Capital Markets. Goel sees another 300-400 points rally in the Sensex till November.

A section of the market believes that valuations are stretched and this may reduce the pace of the rally and lead to extremely stock specific activity. However, they ruled out any major downward correction near-term.

Meanwhile, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) chairman, M Damodaran said the BSE Sensex topping 8000 appears to be orderly and there is no cause of concern.

In key corporate events, Bharti Tele-Ventures rose over 1 per cent to Rs 329, as the company announced alliance with IBM India in offering end-to-end information technology and telecom services to enterprises running mission critical applications.

Other key Nifty gainers included bank and steel shares. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were up 3 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively, while Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India were up 1 per cent each.

Wipro, Ranbaxy Laboratories, ITC, and Hero Honda were among the major Nifty laggards. The CNX Midcap Index tracked the broad market trend to end up 0.7 per cent at 3754.45, slightly off its record high of 3756.70 touched intra-day.

Hotel Leela Venture, Pantaloon Retail India, and Motherson Sumi Systems were the major mid-cap gainers, while Exide Industries, Engineers India and Crompton Greaves featured among the laggards.