Trading sentiments on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) improved with prices of key pivotals gaining towards the end of the closing session yesterday. Marketmen said short covering was resorted to by the broking community with the markets set to remain closed during the festive season.
The NSE opened at 867.24, touched a low of 866.76, before reaching a high of 876.25. It closed at 874.89, gaining 8.32 points over the previous close of 866.57. The net traded value was Rs 763.14 crore, net traded quantity was 398.04 lakh shares and number of trades were 76738.
The ITC stock witnessed sharp trading activity at the major bourses and was the most actively traded on the NSE. ITC, which opened at Rs 240.35, touched the days high of Rs 250.50, before closing marginally lower at Rs 248.20 against the previous close of Rs 255.55.
Other stock exchanges have already tightened the circuit filter levels for the ITC stock, with trading interest to remain strong.
Hectic activity was observed in the following securities: ITC (Rs 239.01 crore), SBI (Rs 190.83), Reliance Industries (Rs 130.38 crore), Tisco (Rs 92.39 crore), L&T (Rs 42.05 crore), Telco (Rs 8.35 crore), BSES (Rs 8.20 crore), ACC (Rs 7.80 crore), Bajaj Auto (Rs 6.53 crore) and MTNL (Rs 2.49 crore).
Reliance Industries witnessed steady trading on the NSE with the scrip closing at Rs 185.50 against the previous close of Rs 182.95, after opening steady at Rs 185.40. The State Bank of India stock also moved in a narrow range, closing at Rs 213 against the previous close of Rs 211.10 after opening at Rs 214.45.
The top five gainers were Tatia Skylines (11.54 per cent), Venus Sugars (11.32 per cent), Datapro Information (10.71 per cent), Somkan Marine Foods (10.71 per cent) and Gujarat Cotex (10.58 per cent).