Records tumble, Sensex zooms past 8600

STOCK REPORT

Key indices surged to record highs on Wednesday, with the Sensex crossing 8600 and Nifty 2600 for the first time. However, the session was volatile with the indices even plunging into red once.

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share Sensex ended at 8606.03, up 80.51 points or 0.9 per cent over Tuesday. The index hit an all-time high of 8613.83. Its low for the day was 8475.68.

The National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty rose 23.20 points or 0.9 per cent to close at 2598.05. It touched a record high of 2602.95 intra-day. It's intra-day low was 2559.85.

Dealers mostly credited fresh buying for the surge with some amount of short-covering. However, market breadth wasn't encouraging except in the frontlines. In BSE's group 'A', 60 per cent of the shares rose. In groups 'B1' and 'B2', 51 per cent and 65 per cent of the shares fell.

Another disappointing figure was that of a fall in volumes. On the NSE, shares worth Rs 68.15 billion exchanged hands in the cash market as opposed to Rs 68.57 billion on Tuesday.

"The market has investment interest written all over it. We are seeing all kinds of buyers including the retail investors entering the market," said Rajesh Jain, managing director, Pranav Securities.

Oil shares led the gainers with all three frontline stocks among the major winners. Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp rose 3.0 per cent and 4.0 per cent to Rs 323.75 and Rs 416.55, respectively. Index heavyweight Oil and Natural Gas Corp. gained 2.7 per cent. Reliance Industries rose 1.6 per cent.

Technology shares continued to meander. The CNX IT Index fell 0.2 per cent to 3265.50. Metal and automobile shares were mixed. Tuesday's top gainer, Tata Motors, was among the biggest losers in the Nifty. It ended down 1.7 per cent at Rs 536.90.

The CNX Midcap Index rose 0.6 per cent to 3827.20. Among the mid-caps, Bharat Earth Mover counter continued to buzz with a rise of 9.6 per cent to Rs 936.20. Crompton Greaves was also close with a gain of 9 per cent to Rs 685.25.