The Hindu : Business : IT stocks lead rally, Sensex recovers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 15, 2004

Business

Business

IT stocks lead rally, Sensex recovers

MUMBAI, OCT. 14. Undeterred by the likely hike in petrol and diesel prices, software counters led a selective price rally helping the BSE Sensex to recover by 36 points on the back of sustained purchases by foreign institutional investors.

IT majors such as Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computer and Wipro hogged the limelight scoring impressive gains on buying prompted by announcement by a couple of software majors of excellent second quarter working results that are far better than the market projections.

Reflecting the positive turnaround, the BSE benchmark 30-share index overcame early resistance and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 5738.61 before ending the day at 5713.10 against Tuesday's close of 5676.73, a net rise of 36.37 points.

The FIIs, who reported net investments of Rs. 166 crores on Monday, were believed to be heavy buyers in new economy stocks including Infosys, Satyam Computer, Wipro, Mastek, TCS, HCL Technologies and a few others. Operators and retail investors too joined the bandwagon and made fresh commitments in blue chip counters.

The market discounted the possibility of hike in petrol and diesel prices shortly amid prevailing higher levels of world crude prices even as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries predicted a rising trend in oil prices.

Metal stocks, however, were at the receiving end in the light of a steep fall in the London metal prices on worries over a slowdown in China. Reflecting the bearish trend in metal shares, the BSE-Metal index dipped by 240.07 points to 4887.93

PTI

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