Key pivotals marked up

MUMBAI, AUG. 21. The Sensex staged a modest recovery on the Bombay Stock Exchange today, backed by foreign funds buying in select key pivotals, to close at 3297.47, a rise of 18.51 points. Trading was characterised by thin volumes as operators' support was restricted due to a holiday mood that prevailed ahead of Ganesh Chaturthi tomorrow.

Dealers said the Nasdaq composite index attained some semblance of steadiness yesterday, recovering marginally by over 14 points on expectation of another rate cut by U.S. Federal Reserve later today.

In response to this, foreign institutional investors stepped in for fresh purchases picking up few software as well as bluechip counters which were lying cheap while Indian institutions continued to book profit in select stocks.

However, reflecting the change in mood, the BSE-30 share sensitive index resumed slightly better at 3286.13 and gradually moved up to the day's high of 3310.53 before closing at 3297.47 against 3278.92. The BSE-100 index also recouped 8.71 points to 1553.20 from 1544.49.

The badly hammered HCL Infosystem were the most sought after stocks on announcement of better-than-expected financial results. Philips remained in the limelight for the second successive day on expectation of second open offer by Dutch major Royal Philips Electronics.

In the specified group, 95 including 17 index-based shares registered gains while 76 others closed with losses.

The BSE-200 and the Dollex were quoted up at 340.07 and 120.13 against 338.43 and 119.55 respectively. The BSE-500 improved by 4.72 points to 998.08 from 993.36. The Dollex-30 improved by 3.23 points to 574.41 from 571.18.

The volume of business remained low at Rs. 648.48 crores. Zee Telefilms topped the list of highest traded securities with a turnover of Rs. 82.08 crores followed by Infosys Technology (Rs. 66.92 crores), Ranbaxy (Rs. 66.57 crores), Digital Equipment (Rs. 46.80 crores) and Satyam Computer (Rs. 46.35 crores).

- PTI

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