Sensex up 93 pts on blue-chip buying

A surge of buying in blue-chip stocks on Monday helped the stock market to record its sixth straight day of gain. The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) Sensex closed up strongly.

Some short covering at higher levels also helped the rise. But the traded volume remained low and brokers warned that the lack of major buying activity was worrying.

Technology, consumer durables, capital goods, metal and automobile counters were among the biggest gainers on Monday. The BSE Sensex hit a high of 6,487.12 and a low of 6,391.80 in intra-day trades before finally closing at 6,481.35 points, up 92.87 points (1.45 per cent) from its previous close.

Rahul Rege, head of sales at Sharekhan, the broking house, said: "The market has managed to record gains in the last six trading sessions but volumes have remained low. The lack of a strong impetus is keeping investors away from taking big buy calls." Investors must be selective about their purchases, he added.

Brokers said Infosys Technologies attracted strong buying attention after the company announced the commencement of its second sponsored American depository share offering.

Of the 30-scrip BSE Sensex basket, the prices of 25 scrips closed higher.

The breadth of the market was also positive, with gainers outpacing losers 16:7 on the BSE. Volumes were lower than on Friday, with a turnover of Rs 1,896.04 crore recorded on the BSE and Rs 3,835.20 crore on the National Stock Exchange.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers of Indian shares worth Rs 127.30 crore on Friday while domestic mutual funds were net buyers to the tune of Rs 34.70 crore.

Of the top five gainers in the Sensex basket, the Infosys Technologies scrip was the biggest, rising 3.74 per cent to close at Rs 2,096.85. Satyam Computer was up 2.96 per cent to Rs 425.80, ITC gained 2.93 per cent to Rs 1483.60, Tata Motors was up 2.77 per cent to Rs 437.30 and Tata Steel gained 2.63 per cent to Rs 363.15.

The HPCL counter was the biggest loser in the Sensex basket, falling 2.59 per cent to Rs 324.95. HLL fell 1.19 per cent to Rs 132.60, HDFC Bank was down 0.28 per cent to Rs 539.70, HDFC fell 0.06 per cent to Rs 742.45 and Grasim fell 0.03 per cent to Rs 1149.25.