Sensex gains 0.74% amid Sebi's UBS ban

The Sensex registered a moderate gain of 0.74%, extending its winning streak to third consecutive week on the back of sustained and heavy purchases by domestic financial institutions amid Sebi's action against a leading FII for not complying with regulations.

In the week to May 21, the BSE 30-share index witnessed erratic movements in a range of 6568.61 and 6380.53 before ending at 6499.50 as against the last weekend's close of 6451.54, a net rise of 47.96 points.

The market was driven by sustained support from FIs, which reported net purchases of more than Rs 1100 crore in the first four trading sessions of the week.

Operators and retail investors, however, reduced their participation in the light of the market regulator's ban on UBS Securities Asia.

Besides UBS, the Sebi, was probing 11 more entities for possible involvement in 'Black Monday' market crash.

The market, however, found some respite and recovered smartly in the latter part of week, as Sebi ruled out banning FIIs from issuing PNs.

Meanwhile, FIIs reported net sales of Rs 764 crore in the first four days of the week.

IT and auto stocks attracted keen demand from investors. Infosys, Satyam, Wipro, Bajaj, Hero Honda, Maruti, SBI, Dr Reddy's and a few others scored mpressive gains.

However, ONGC, RIL, Cipla and Zee suffered a sharp setback on selling pressure.

The BSE-100 index advanced further by 21.74 points to end the week at 3489.67 against last weekend's close of 3467.93.

The BSE-200 index was quoted slightly up at 857.40 at the weekend compared to 856.23 at the last weekend. The Dollex-200 held steady at 328.16 from last weekend's close of 328.24.

The BSE-500 index moved up by 6.73 points to finish the week at 2737.54 from preceding weekend's close of 2730.81 and the Dollex-30 ended the week up at 1226.69 from 1219.60 at the last weekend.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), the S&P CNX Nifty edged up by 4.10 points to close the week at 1992.40 against previous close of 1988.30. The S&P CNX Defty ended the week with fractional variation at 1587.75 from 1588.50. The CNX Nifty Junior eased by 17.55 points to conclude the week at 4234.10 from 4251.65 at the previous weekend.

During the week, the volume of business on the BSE and the NSE was relatively low at Rs 10,409 crore and Rs 19,821 crore compared to last week's turnover of Rs 12,314.68 crore and Rs 23,299.58 crore respectively.