Year 2000 ends on promising note

MUMBAI, DEC. 29. The year 2000 ended on a promising note with a dramatic mild rally in IT stocks that helped cyclicals to shrug off early weaknesses on the Bombay Stock Exchange as speculators made fresh commitments on the back of selective purchases by foreign funds.

Infotech counters, which remained depressed in a prolonged bad phase in line with sustained slide in the Nasdaq composite index, suddenly showed signs of revival in the wake of good purchases reportedly by a leading foreign fund.

Dealers attributed fresh support in the IT sector to an attempt by foreign funds to jack up share prices in a bid to push the net asset value of their unit price.

Sentiment was partly aided by encouraging trend for the second successive day in the Nasdaq composite index that improved by about 18 points yesterday. It had risen by about 46 points on December 27.

The BSE sensitive index opened fractionally up at 3933.95 and later rose to the day's high of 3978.25 before closing at 3972.12 against yesterday's close of 3932.78, showing a net rise of 39.34 points.

Speculators, however, covered short positions at the last day of the current account and even made fresh commitments in old economy stocks. Domestic institutions were buyers in Tisco, BHEL and a few others.

- PTI

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Section  : Business
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