Buying spree lifts Sensex by 96 points

MUMBAI, APRIL 30. A smart rally in stocks, prompted by unexpected buying spree, lifted the Sensex by more than 96 points at close on the opening day of the new account on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

Even though the proposed ban on carry forward trading and introduction of rolling settlement in the specified group with effect from July 2 sent the broking fraternity into jitters, hectic short covering on the National Stock Exchange coupled with institutional purchases kindled an upsurge in the equities.

The BSE sensitive index opened firm at 3459.51 and generally moved erratically in a range of 3522.70 and 3440.71 before closing at 3519.16 against last Friday's close of 3422.76, a net rise of 96.40 points or 2.81 per cent. The BSE-100 index shot up by 57.25 points to 1682.01 from 1624.76.

Cement shares stole the limelight scoring impressive gains on heavy buying support prompted by excellent working by the cement bellwether ACC which reported a net profit of Rs. 47.48 crores for year ended March 2001 against a loss of Rs. 58.85 crores in the previous year.

Reliance Industries, however, bucked the trend and recorded a marked fall in spite of interested buying, as the company reported lower net profit for the fourth quarter over the corresponding period last year.

Citing firm trend in the Nasdaq composite index that rose by about 41 points last Friday and attractive price levels of IT stocks, market sources said foreign institutional investors also stepped up purchases in new economy stocks.

In the specified group, Digital Equipment, HCL Technologies, Satyam Computer, Silverline and Pentamedia Graphic were stuck in the 16 per cent upper circuit.

The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted up at 364.73 and 129.58 against 352.95 and 125.40 respectively. The BSE-500 firmed up by 32.81 points to 1072.62 from 1039.81.

The volume of business was up at Rs. 1,504.29 crores against last Friday's Rs. 1,173.32 crores. Global Telesystems topped the list of highest traded securities with a turnover of Rs. 152.43 crores followed by Satyam Computer (Rs. 145.08 crores), Infosys Technologies (Rs. 130.61 crores), Himachal Futuristic (Rs. 114.15 crores) and Wipro (Rs. 100.78 crores).

- PTI

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