Bank stocks lift Sensex 88 pts

For the second day in a row, the stock market's benchmark index moved up today, pushed partly by Finance Minister P Chidambaram's visit to Mumbai.

The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex surged 111 points to the day's high of 4,946.15 before closing at 4,923.69, up 1.83 per cent (88.57 points) over yesterday's close.

In the foreign exchange and bond markets, the rupee closed higher at 45.35/37 against the dollar today up from yesterday's close of 45.42/43.

After a long time, all maturities of forward dollars were sold at a premium following importer covering. The yield on the 10-year benchmark paper inched up to 5.30 per cent.

In the stock market, banking and public sector undertakings' stocks were in the limelight, witnessing buying after being hammered in the last few sessions.

The BSE Bankex was the biggest gainer today, up 5.18 per cent, followed by the BSE PSU index, up 3.29 per cent. The BSE capital goods index moved up 1.65 per cent and the IT sector index gained 0.86 per cent. Gainers outpaced losers 867:757 with 23 of the 30-scrip Sensex basket closing higher.

The National Stock Exchange (NSE) Nifty gained 27.30 points to close at 1,535.20.

The finance minister is expected to meet brokers, bankers and regulators to explain the government's economic agenda.

Vijay Saraf, chief operating officer, Centrum Securities, said, "The finance minister is not expected to do much in Mumbai, but the whole idea of him coming down personally to talk to various participants, seems to have enthused the market today." He added that foreign funds had turned buyers on Tuesday, helping boost sentiment further.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 265 crore on Tuesday, while mutual funds sold net shares worth Rs 34 crore.

The biggest gainer in the Sensex basket was ICICI Bank, up 10.61 per cent to Rs 261.60, followed by Reliance Energy, up 8.76 per cent to Rs 537.70. MTNL was up 5.03 per cent to Rs 123.30. Hindalco gained 4.81 per cent to Rs 979.75, ONGC was up 4.67 per cent to Rs 656.65 and BHEL was up 4.49 per cent to Rs 444.10.

Reliance Industries gained 1.27 per cent to Rs 439.65, the State Bank of India scrip was up 0.75 per cent to Rs 472.55, HLL moved up 0.18 per cent to Rs 137.20, while ITC fell marginally by 0.11 per cent to Rs 900.65.

Tata Power was the biggest loser today in the Sensex basket, falling 6.59 per cent to Rs 247.45, followed by Maruti Udyog, down 2.57 per cent to Rs 391.75 and Grasim fell 1.43 per cent to Rs 1,085.05.

Volumes in the market were lower than on Tuesday, with the BSE registering a turnover of Rs 1,539.17 crore and the NSE Rs 3458.54 crore in the cash segment.