Indices rebound 2%

STOCK REPORT

Reversing three straight days of fall, key indices pulled back with gains of nearly 2 per cent. Dealers said both fresh buying and short-covering contributed to the gains.

While indices shed some of the gains, fresh buying at lower levels followed, restored indices to their previous levels.

BSE's 30-share Sensex ended at 8068.95, up 133.83 points, or 1.7 per cent, from Thursday. NSE's 50-share Nifty closed at 2443.75, up 48.30 points, or 2.0 per cent.

This week saw both the Nifty and the Sensex shedding 1.6 per cent over last week's close.

In BSE's 'A' and 'B' groups, for every share that fell, there were three shares that rose. The top winners in the Nifty notched up impressive gains with Tata Power Supply Corp, Videsh Sanchar Nigam, GAIL India and Hero Honda rising 6.0-8.0 per cent.

"The market is consolidating in the 8000-8100 range for the Sensex. The bottom was envisaged around 7900," said Prakash Idnani, head of research, Padmakshi Financial Services. Idnani gave a large part of credit to short-covering for the gains. He said "7800 is the rock bottom for the Sensex."

Zee Telefilms shed over 7 per cent and was the top loser in the index. It suffered because of posting an over 38 per cent year-on-year drop in September quarter net to 425 million rupees, was the top Nifty loser.

Other prominent share to fall was that of Housing Development Finance Corp, shedding 3 per cent.

All the indices on both the exchanges ended in positive territory. The BSE Mid Cap Index followed the Nifty amongst the top indices. It rose 1.7 per cent to 3,842.15. The BSE PSU Index rose the least, up 1.2 per cent at 4,696.79.

The CNX Midcap Index rose 1.4 per cent to 3537.85. Sterling Biotech and Aventis Pharma, up around 7 per cent each were the top gainers in the index. Bombay Dyeing and and Jammu and Kasmir Bank were the laggards, down over 4.0 per cent and 5.0 per cent, respectively.

The CNX IT Index rose 1.4 per cent to 3299.30. Wipro was the top gainer in the Nifty IT shares, up 4.5 per cent.

Index heavyweight, Reliance Industries, whose shareholders approved the company's business restructuring plan at the company's extraordinary general meeting earlier in the day, rose 3 per cent. Another heavyweight, oil exploration major Oil and Natural Gas Corp, gained 2.0 per cent.