FII buying in TMT stocks lifts Sensex by 122 points

MUMBAI, MAY 30. A fresh spell of buying in the badly battered technology, media and telecommunication (TMT) shares lifted the Sensex up by nearly 122 points to cross the 4300 mark on the Bombay Stock Exchange today.

The BSE-30 share sensitive index flared up by 121.92 points to close at 4311.77 and with the day's gain, the Sensex recovered smartly by over 378 points in the last four days on renewed buying by foreign funds and short coverings.

The TMT counters reversed their previous trend and once again were the forerunners on foreign institutional investors' buying enquiries at lower levels, which was influenced by anticipation of high earnings growth following sustained depreciation in the value of Indian rupee.

A smart rise in the benchmark was mainly attributed to a brave rally in index-based heavy-weighted shares such as Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computers, Zee Telefilms, ITC, Novartis, M&M, Reliance, Ranbaxy and SBI.

The FIIs were reported to have picked up shares of Infosys, Satyam Computers, Silverline, NIIT, SSI, Wipro, Global Telesystems, Himachal Futuristic, Zee Telefilms and a few others from cash section.

The tobacco-giant, ITC, was also in the limelight for last couple of days on local institutions and funds buying support. The share price closed at Rs. 741, Rs. 69 higher than the previous close. Local funds also bought shares of Reliance, Novartis and select Indian companies.Short-covering, that was forced by sustained buying by FIIs, on the last day of current settlement on the National Stock Exchange, also aided the firm trend. Barring a few old-economy shares, which declined on profit-selling, other counters continued to rule firm on local institutions support.

Reflecting the upbeat mood, the BSE-30 share sensitive index opened firm at 4207.01 and immediately moved down to the intra- day low of 4185.36. But sustained buying by institutional investors and short-covering by operators lifted the Sensex to log the day's peak of 4318.65 before closing at 4311.77 against yesterday's close of 4189.85, recording a hefty rise of 2.91 per cent. The BSE-100 index shot up by 57.78 points to 2101.58.

The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted up at 455.69 and 170.18 against 442.72 and 165.82 respectively. The BSE-500 index rose by 39.79 points to 1376.28.

- PTI

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Section  : Business
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