Blue chip stocks find takers

STOCKS REPORT

Metal, information technology, oil and consumer durable scrips were among the biggest gainers on Tuesday as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex closed in the positive territory.

The Sensex closed at 5,651.09 points, gaining 1.25 per cent (69.60 points) from Monday's close. The Sensex rose almost 100 points from its intra-day low of 5,558.14 to hit an intra-day high of 5,654.82.

Blue chip stocks witnessed buying support, with 20 out of the 30 Sensex scrips closing higher. The broader market also reflected the same positive sentiment, with gainers outpacing losers 3:2 on the BSE.

Brokers said the sentiment was helped after the central bank raised the fixed repo rate by 25 basis points but left the benchmark used by banks to price their lending and deposit rates unchanged.

Players added that some buying was also seen after the fall in the last few days. A slight fall in international oil prices also helped, analysts said.

The market witnessed volatility in intra-day trades on Tuesday. After opening in the positive zone, it declined in early afternoon trades after RBI raised the repo rates and cut GDP growth forecast. But it recovered from the lower levels in the afternoon on renewed buying interest at lower levels.

The BSE Metal index was the biggest gainer, up 3.69, followed by the IT index, up 1.99 per cent, oil and gas index was up 1.83 per cent, consumer durables index was up 1.66 per cent, PSU index was up 1.36 per cent while the Capital good index was the only loser, down 1.07 per cent. Satyam Computer was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, up 4.61 per cent to close at Rs 370.20, followed by Hindalco up 3.59 per cent to Rs 1,255.75, Tata Steel up 3.54 per cent to Rs 289.45 and State Bank of India gained 2.89 per cent to Rs 451.80.

Other Sensex banking scrips ICICI Bank was up 0.53 per cent to Rs 286.95 and HDFC

Bank gained 0.22 per cent to Rs 409.55. L&T was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, down 3.20 per cent to Rs 803.90, followed by Gujarat Ambuja Cements, down 3.07 per cent to Rs 333.65, HDFC was down 2.15 per cent to Rs 640.40, Dr Reddy's Labs fell 1.19 per cent to Rs 734.80 and ACC was down 1.08 per cent to Rs 251.60.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 77.90 crore, while domestic mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 16.20 crore on Monday.

Turnover was higher than on Monday in the cash segment of the bourses on Tuesday; the BSE reported a turnover of Rs 1699.58 crore and the National Stock Exchange reported a turnover of Rs 3825.52 crore.