Auto, telecom save the day

STOCK REPORT

The Sensex and Nifty ended up today, recovering from negative territory as foreign funds bought automobile and telecom stocks, dealers said.

Gains in the index heavyweights, Reliance Industries and Tata Steel also helped main indices erase the over 1 per cent loss suffered earlier today.

The recovery was also aided by light buying to cover short positions a week ahead of the December derivatives contract's expiry. The market was down for the past two sessions but today there was lesser selling pressure from the foreign funds and towards the end we saw some buying coming in," a dealer said.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex ended at 13384.86, up 44.65 points or 0.3 per cent, after touching a low of 13182.35 and a high of 13441.36.

The National Stock Exchange's Nifty settled at 3833.50, up 17.95 points or 0.5 per cent. It moved between 3768.80 and 3851.20.

The combined turnover on both exchanges was Rs 12,352 crore, up 15 per cent.

Among broad indices, CNX Midcap Index ended up 1 per cent and S&P CNX 500 Index was up 0.4 per cent.

On the BSE, advances outnumbered declines 1.3:1.

Foreign funds bought auto companies on the back of reports that the state governments are likely to phase out over 15-year old commercial vehicles, as suggested by the Central Pollution Control Board.

Mahindra and Mahindra remained one of the biggest gainers throughout the day, ending at Rs 846.95, up 4 per cent.

Its arm Tech Mahindra late on Wednesday said it had won a five-year outsourcing deal worth $1 billion from UK-based BT group.

The deal is the largest ever by an Indian software firm and is likely to add 10-12 per cent to Tech Mahindra's bottomline from 2008, analysts said.

Shares of Tech Mahindra ended 20 per cent up at Rs 1,491.60.

Other gainers included Tata Motors, up 3.3 per cent at Rs 864.30; Reliance Communications, up 3.1 per cent at Rs 461.40.