Tax hopes spur buying

STOCKS REPORT

Technology and steel scrips were again in the limelight on Thursday, propping the market up, with concerns over an erratic monsoon taking a backseat.

Players attributed it to the skys finally opening up in Mumbai, restoring some confidence in a shaky market reeling under the transaction 'Chidambaram' tax imbroglio and monsoon worries despite strong quarterly earnings reported so far.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex gained 0.82 per cent (39.89 points) to close at 4,888.19. Moving in a narrow range of 55 points, the Sensex hit a high of 4,900.18 and a low of 4,844.66 in intra-day trades.

Brokers said that sentiment perked up on Thursday on expectations of a favourable response from the finance minister on the transaction tax and monsoons picking up.

Concerns over the lack of depth in the market in the last few days were put to rest somewhat with blue-chips finding favour once again. 24 scrips of the 30-scrip Sensex basket closed higher with gainers outpacing losers 3:1 on the BSE.

With day traders, jobbers and arbitrageurs back in the market, volumes were higher; cash segment turnover of Rs 1,780.20 crore was reported on the BSE and Rs 4,164.57 crore on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).

Foreign institutional investors (FII) were net sellers of Indian shares worth Rs 48.90 crore on Wednesday while domestic mutual funds were net sellers to the tune of Rs 15.50 crore.

The BSE consumer durables index was the biggest gainer on Thursday, surging 4.55 per cent, followed by the BSE IT index, up 1.79 per cent and the BSE PSU index gained 1.49 per cent.

Tata Steel was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, gaining 4.32 per cent to Rs 327.20 and the Steel authority of India scrip was up 8.50 per cent to Rs 32.55.

Wipro was up 2.57 per cent to Rs 525, Infosys Technologies gained 1.59 per cent to Rs 1,443.25 and Satyam Computer was up 1.04 per cent to Rs 326.05.

Auto and cement companies witnessed buying after being hammered in the last few session over concerns on erratic rains. Gujarat Ambuja Cements gained 3.15 per cent to Rs 275.30, Grasim gained 1.52 per cent to Rs 951.35 and ACC was up 1.20 per cent to Rs 231.70. Tata Motors gained 2.22 per cent to Rs 406.85 and Hero Honda Motors was up 2.03 per cent to Rs 459.70.

In heavyweights, ITC fell 1.51 per cent to Rs 994.05, Reliance Industries was up 0.56 per cent to Rs 420.30, HLL gained 0.82 per cent to Rs 123.45 while the State Bank of India scrip gained 0.07 per cent to Rs 430.80.

HPCL gained 2.02 per cent to Rs 288.35 and ONGC was up 0.36 per cent to Rs 654.70.