IT counters bounce back, Sensex up 55 points

MUMBAI, JAN. 4. IT counters that were consistently battered during last several months, bounced back with a vengeance and, in turn, lifted the Sensex by about 55 points at close on the Bombay Stock Exchange today prompted by surprise sharp rally on Wall Street last night.

However, select old economy stocks, particularly cement shares, suffered a sharp setback in the wake of heavy selling in the form of profit booking by Indian financial institutions as well as selling pressure by speculators which reportedly lightened commitments in line with squaring up on the last day of current account on the Calcutta Stock Exchange.

Attributing the sudden change in sentiment in IT sector to an unexpected interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve leading to a record upsurge in the Nasdaq composite index that zoomed by about 325 points and a 300-point spurt in the Dow Jones Industrial Averages, dealers said the Sensex would have been far higher past its opening level had it not been for a sharp reaction in key cyclicals.

The BSE sensitive index opened with a wide upward gap at 4180.97 but later lost lustre due to selling in Indian stocks and dipped to the day's low of 4109.55 before closing at 4115.37 against yesterday's close of 4060.02, netting a rise of 55.35 points or 1.36 per cent. The BSE-100 index shot up by 52.54 points to 2120.14 from previous close of 2067.60.

Enthused by strong overseas news, foreign institutional investors reportedly made heavy purchases in Infosys, Satyam Computer, Wipro that crossed the eight per cent circuit filter limit, besides other it counters.

Market sources said the euphoria was so strong that players discounted reports that the Nasdaq futures was quoting down by about 65 points at around midsession.

Though the Sensex closed in a positive territory, 102 out of 141 specified shares registered losses while 38 others including 10 index based counters recorded smart gains.

The BSE-200 index and the Dollex were quoted remarkably up at 455.78 and 162.35 compared with previous close of 446.03 and 159.01 respectively. The BSE-500 index also improved by 28.11 points to 1357.96 against last close of 1329.85.

Himachal Futuristic continued to be the top traded share having clocked a highest turnover of Rs. 773.35 crores followed by Satyam Computer, Infosys and Global Telesystem.

- PTI

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