Street shrugs off tech slide to hit new high

A day after rupee appreciation took IT stocks down, the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex scaled to a record close of 15,092 points (up 1.22 per cent) on Thursday, as analysts discounted fears of a dip in corporate earnings and predicted better results this quarter.

The Sensex gained 181.42 points to 15,092.04, crossing its previous high of 15,045.73 points, while the broad-based S&P CNX Nifty climbed a newer peak, growing 59 points (1.3 per cent) to 4446.15 points. The BSE Small cap and CNX Midcap indexes also touched all time highs.

Following the projection of 4-5 per cent revenue loss due to rupee appreciation on IT heavyweight Infosys, the stock market on Wednesday went below the 15,000 level, and the IT index reported a record drop of 3.34 per cent.

The IT index ended flat on Thursday. Infosys opened at Rs 1,949.50, registering gains after Wednesday's close of Rs 1,929.7, reached a high of Rs 1,959 and closed at Rs 1.921.75, shedding 0.41 per cent.

Barring IT, buying was witnessed at all major counters with power, metals, realty and infrastructure stocks leading the rally. Analysts are expecting the market to continue the good run over the next few days, despite the higher levels of profit bookings on small amounts, as the markets are in a strong mood.

"Global cues were positive on Thursday as Asia ended in the green and even Europe was trading in the positive territory. Over and above that, liquidity in the Indian market is driving the Sensex to new highs. No one would have thought the Sensex would make it to 15,000 points in March but now people are already talking about the market reaching 16,000 points. So the market sentiment is very positive," Shahina Mukadam, equity research head, IDBI Capital Markets, said.