Frontliners lead surge

STOCKS REPORT

Sustained institutional buying in blue chips helped the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex hit record high for the second straight session on Friday.

The BSE Sensex closed strongly in positive territory as investors bought heavily in frontline counters. Capital goods, oil, auto and technology counters were among the biggest gainers on Friday.

In the BSE Sensex basket, 25 out of the 30 scrips closed higher. The breadth of the market was also positive, with gainers outpacing losers 13:11.

The BSE Sensex hit an all-time high of 6864.62 in the intra-day before closing at 6849.48 up 64.76 points (0.95 per cent) from Thursday's close.

Volumes were higher than on Thursday in the cash segment of the bourses. The BSE reported a turnover of Rs 3,115.14 crore and the NSE reported a turnover of Rs 6,369.17 crore.

Strong institutional buying has fuelled the spurt, but the domestic participation has been limited. The domestic mutual funds have not been big buyers so far, despite raising big money in via IPOs, market players said.

Post-Budget analysis has helped many investors finetune their investment plans and players are now busy reallocating their funds, brokers said. Some sector specific concerns are leading to portfolio churns, they added.

Zee Telefilms was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, rising 7.25 per cent to close at Rs 145.75, followed by Wipro, up 3.33 per cent to Rs 720.70, Reliance Industries was up 2.41 per cent to Rs 571.90, Hindalco gained 2.06 per cent to Rs 1403.05 and Maruti Udyog gained 1.91 per cent to Rs 482.65.

HPCL was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 1.43 per cent to close at Rs 338.45, Hero Honda fell 0.61 per cent to Rs 560.15, the State Bank of India scrip fell 0.57 per cent to Rs 713.30, HLL fell 0.47 per cent to Rs 149.70 and Tata Steel was down 0.41 per cent to Rs 428.80.