Relentless rise

STOCKS REPORT

Banking stocks were in the limelight on Monday, propelling the benchmark indices to break their own record for the fourth time in the last six trading sessions.

Sustained foreign fund buying helped the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex hit a lifetime high for the third straight session on Monday, closing strongly in positive territory, in line with most Asian markets.

Investors bought select frontline counters even as key stock indices touched their lifetime highs in intra-day trades, brokers said. Banking, consumer durables, oil and metal counters were among the biggest gainers on Monday.

In the Sensex basket, 16 out of the 30 scrips closed higher. The breadth of the market was also positive, with gainers outpacing losers 13:11.

The Sensex hit an all-time high of 6902.49 in intra-day trades before closing at 6878.98, up 29.50 points (0.43 per cent), from Friday's close. Volumes were marginally higher than on Friday in the cash segment of the bourses; the BSE reported a turnover of Rs 3,015.68 crore and the NSE reported a turnover of Rs 6,483.88 crore.

Banking stocks were in the limelight on hopes of stable interest rates on the back of lower inflation, boosting retail lending and bank profits, analysts said. A strong response to the Punjab National Bank public offering also helped banking stocks.

The Punjab National Bank scrip was up 6.96 per cent to Rs 509.40. Metal companies attracted buying on hopes of firmer global metal prices.

Domestic demand is also expected to be higher as the government focusses on infrastructure development, analysts added. But higher international oil prices may play dampener in the near term, brokers said.

The Reliance Energy counter was the biggest gainer in the Sensex basket, rising 4 per cent to close at Rs 587.85, followed by HDFC Bank, up 2.58 per cent to Rs 601.15, Reliance Industries was up 2.39 per cent to Rs 585.55, HDFC gained 1.99 per cent to Rs 802.85 and the State Bank of India scrip gained 1.85 per cent to close at Rs 726.50.

Heavyweights ONGC gained 1.35 per cent to Rs 901.90, Tata Steel was up 1.43 per cent to Rs 434.95 and Hindalco gained 0.89 per cent to Rs 1,415.60.

HLL was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 3.17 per cent to close at Rs 144.95, Maruti Udyog was down 2.71 per cent to Rs 469.55, Bharti Tele-Ventures fell 2.46 per cent to Rs 230.15, Tata Motors was down 1.76 per cent to Rs 478.95 and L&T fell 1.47 per cent to Rs 1,100.80.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 554.30 crore on Friday according to data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India website.

They have been net buyers to the tune of Rs 2,501.40 crore in March so far, bringing their total net purchases to Rs 11,334.50 crore in 2005 so far. Strong buying support from foreign funds has helped the market record gains.

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