Short-covering props up street

STOCK REPORT

Shares ended up over 1 per cent on Wednesday driven by a late bout of short covering. Buying by foreign funds and gains in heavyweight ONGC also helped move indices up, dealers said.

Technology shares were top gainers. BSE IT Index, up 2 per cent, was the top gainer among BSE indices.

The Sensex ended at 12109.14, up 138.67 points or 1.2 per cent from Tuesday, after moving between 11833.61 and 12128.99 intra-day.

The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty closed above the 3500 mark for the first time since May 17.

It ended at 3502.80, up 45.45 points or 1.3 per cent, after moving between 3419.75 and 3509.85 intra-day.

Combined turnover on the exchanges was roughly Rs 9,900 crore, down 12 per cent from Tuesday.

Dealers said volumes were thin as traders exercised caution ahead of US Federal Reserve's meet on interest rates today.

On BSE, advances led declines marginally, 1266 to 1223.

Earlier in the session, traders built short positions in anticipation of a further slide, but had to cover those later, which supported the rise.

"Market was expected to go down today, so investors built short positions initially, and later covered shorts when the market did not tank," a dealer said.

Tata Consultancy was up 2 per cent at Rs 1,030, and Wipro Corp was up 1 per cent at Rs 518.

Bharti Airtel, up 5 per cent at Rs 462, was the top Nifty gainer. Reliance Communications and Indian Petrochemicals were up 4 per cent each at Rs 346 and Rs 307, respectively.

Gains in heavyweight ONGC, up 2 per cent at Rs 1,175, also helped push indices up.

Voltamp Transformers listed at Rs 375 today on NSE and BSE against an issue price of Rs 345. It ended at Rs 416.45, up 21 per cent.

Bank shares were major laggards on profit sales following recent gains, dealers said.