Fund purchases perk up Reliance

DALAL STREET SPIKES

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was in the limelight on Wednesday, gaining more than three per cent on aggressive buying by funds.

The stock, in intra-day deals, touched a high of Rs 516.95, before closing at Rs 514.10, up 3.61 per cent from its previous close.

According to market sources, frontline stocks are back in favour among funds, with foreign institutional investors aggressively buying into the blue chips.

The Reliance counter witnessed a volume of more than 39.08 lakh shares on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The gains contributed to the smart recovery in the Sensex, which rallied nearly 100 points from its intra-day low.

Reliance has a huge 12.18 per cent weightage in the Sensex. Expectations of strong second-quarter results on the back of higher refining margins has resulted in renewed buying at the counter of late.

The stock, which touched a low of Rs 451.20 on August 23, 2004, has risen to Wednesday's close of Rs 514.10.