FIIs provide impetus

STOCKS REPORT

Selective gains in blue chips Maruti Udyog and Zee Telefilms and automobile, banking and cement sector stocks helped the Sensex close marginally higher.

The Sensex, after moving in a narrow range of 67 points, ended 10.94 points higher to close at 5,616.87. The Nifty ended 3.70 points higher to close at 1,753.90.

A portfolio manager with a leading broking firm said, "The market undertone is bullish on the back of sustained inflows from foreign institutional investors. But there might be a correction in certain overweight sectors."

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 204.5 crore on Tuesday against net inflows of Rs 220.10 crore on Monday. FIIs pumped in a huge Rs 481 crore on Friday, taking the total inflows in September to Rs 1,698 crore.

The breadth of the market was positive with volumes slightly better. The total turnover on the BSE accounted for Rs 2,105 crore compared with Rs 1,969.33 crore on Tuesday.

The Maruti Udyog scrip gained 2.9 per cent to Rs 369.35 after the government and Suzuki said in a joint statement that Suzuki's planned second car factory in India would not hurt the interests of the existing joint venture.

The counter was among the most traded on the BSE today. Other automobile stocks gained on expectations of continued strong growth in sales.

Bajaj Auto was up 3.2 per cent to Rs 989.60 and Hero Honda gained 1.1 per cent to Rs 454.85. Media major Zee Telefilms was up 5.69 per cent to Rs 156.90, recovering from its intra-day low of Rs 144.40 after the company said they would move the Supreme Court against the BCCI decision to call fresh bids for the telecast rights of the India-Australia cricket test series.

Index heavyweights ITC was down 0.94 per cent to Rs 1,165.85, Reliance Industries down 0.69 per cent to Rs 503.20 and Hindustan Lever down 0.61 per cent to Rs 123.05 after a brief rally over the past few days. Banking stocks gained on a report that the government was set to ease the foreign investment norms in the domestic banking sector and the anticipated move after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rate by a quarter-percentage point to 1.75 per cent on Tuesday.

State Bank of India gained 2.7 per cent to Rs 492.85 and ICICI Bank gained 2.3 per cent to Rs 295.25.

Reliance Energy ended 1.48 per cent to Rs 646.95, while Hindalco was down 2.07 per cent to Rs 1,257.60 and Tata Steel was down 0.71 per cent to Rs 288.35 on profit booking after recent gains.

Nagarjuna Construction ended 2.90 per cent higher to Rs 250 after the company announced that it has bagged three new orders aggregating Rs 138 crore.

Larsen & Toubro was up 1.99 per cent to Rs 871.85 on the announcement that its board will consider payment of a special dividend along with its SQ 2004 results on October 25, 2004.