Euphoria over FM visit

STOCKS REPORT

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

Broad-based buying led by blue-chips helped the market close in positive territory, second day running today. Gainers outpaced losers 867:757 with the 30-scrip Sensex basket seeing 23 scrips closing higher.

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.

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

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 and 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.

Heavyweights 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 3,458.54 crore in the cash segment.