Hectic short covering was witnessed in the ITC counter, as the BSE tightened its circuit filter limit for the stock to 5 per cent, from the usual 10 per cent level. At the Calcutta Stock Exchange, the free fall of the ITC scrip was arrested by a notice issued by the exchange authorities, fixing the upper limit at Rs 256 and lower limit at Rs 232 with immediate effect.
The sentiments were better yesterday as the markets opened on a higher note. Institutional buying support, coupled with short covering by punters, pushed the Sensex up 22.50 points. From the overnight close of 3044.16, the index opened at 3055.07. Though during mid-session it slumped to 3046.27, the days high was clocked at 3073.61 and the index finally closed at 3066.66.
The ITC scrip notched up the highest turnover on the BSE, contributing Rs 57.54 crore in the total exchange turnover of Rs 249.39 crore. The other highly-traded scrips were Reliance (Rs 50.38 crore) and SBI (Rs 46.76 crore). The NSE-50 opened at 867.24, touched a low of 866.76, before reaching a high of 876.25 and closed at 874.89, gaining 8.32 points over the previous close of 866.57. The net turnover was Rs 763.14 crore. ITC clocked Rs 239.01 crore and was the highest traded stock.
