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Sensex forges ahead

MUMBAI: The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark index on Wednesday touched the 15000-level at close after nearly six weeks by gaining more than 110 points on the back of buying support in auto, capital goods and IT stocks.

The 30-share Sensex, which opened stronger at 15263.65, rallied further to the day’s high of 15422.82. The barometer finally closed at 15073.54, a gain of 112.47 points.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty improved by 14.70 points to 4517.55.

Dealers attributed the early rally to a steep fall in global crude prices which fell near $118 a barrel, alleviating fears of a further rise in inflation.

Automobile, capital goods and IT counters attracted good buying support and helped the Sensex rise while the fall in metal and PSU shares pared initial gains.

Most Asian indices ended in the green by an average of 1-3.1 per cent while European markets displayed a weak trend at the opening. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers and pulled out Rs. 397.67 crore in the cash segment as per provisional data.

From the Sensex pack, Maruti flared up by 6.25 per cent, Tata Motors 4.31 per cent, Bharti Airtel 3.59 per cent, ACC 3.48 per cent, TCS 3.32 per cent, BHEL 3.21 per cent, HDFC Bank 2.74 per cent, M&M 2.55 per cent and L&T 2.39 per cent.

However, Tata Steel dropped by 4.48 per cent, Tata Power by 3.65 per cent, SBI by 3.49 per cent, REL Infra 3.11 per cent and HDFC by 2.82 per cent.

The rupee inched closer to the 42-level by gaining 17 paise on Wednesday to close at 42.07/08 against the U.S. dollar as the demand for the U.S. currency from oil companies weakened amid a fall in crude prices in the global markets.

In a volatile trade at the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee resumed at 42.08/10 a dollar against Tuesday’s close of 42.24/25 and rallied further to breach the 42-mark at 41.92. The Indian currency, however, pared its early gains in line with the equity market to close at 42.07/08, still 17 paise higher than the overnight close. — PTI

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