Foreign institutional investors remained bullish on ICE sector stocks and, in the absence of any selling pressure, the market perked up for the second successive day to close 140 points up.
The Bombay Stock Exchange sensex closed at 4,693.88 points, a gain of 139.96 points. The rally on Friday was driven by FIIs, who continued purchases at infotech counters, as sellers stayed away.
The Business Standard ICE index for the convergent economy gained 14.14 points or 6.80 per cent to close at 222.02. The S&P CNX Nifty also gained 41.85 points to close at 1,422.40.
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The sensex opened almost 44 points higher at 4,600.64 and later touched an intra-day high of 4,731.94 points.
For the greater part of the day, the sensex oscillated between 4,650 and 4,720 points. Later, it closed with a gain of 139.96 points at 4,693.88.
The FIIs emerged net buyers to the extent of Rs 72.30 crore on Thursday. Institutional brokers said the foreign mutual funds and FIIs were heavy buyers to the tune of Rs 200-250 crore at ICE stocks like Infosys, DSQ Software, Shyam Telecom. However, the entire order could not be executed as most stocks locked the 12 per cent upper end of the circuit filters, it was rumoured.
Among ICE sector gainers Satyam Computers, Himachal Futuristic, Global Telesystems, Silverline and Pentamedia Graphics locked at the 12 per cent upper end circuit filters. Other gainers were M&M, Hindalco, Sun Pharma, HLL, Wipro, Zee Telefilms and Telco. However cement majors like Gracim, ACC, Gujarat Ambuja cement ended the day lower.
Fund managers and institutional brokers were of the opinion that the markets could perk-up by another 100-150 points next week as the incomplete orders get executed. filters. These may be completed next week.
A section of the market was of the view that retail investors could take an exit-call next week as most ICE stocks had appreciated between 25-35 per cent within just four trading sessions and they may book profits as these stocks come closer to their earlier heady heights. Further, the move of 122 scrips to the compulsory rolling settlement mode from May 8 could affect sentiment although these scrips are not very liquid stocks but given their illiquidity they could see sharp swings in their prices.