Business

Sensex zooms 692 points

MUMBAI: The stock markets made a comeback on the Christmas-eve of 2007 with a recovery of 691.55 points taking cues from global markets.

Further, the Gujarat election results gave a positive indication to the market on the much-wanted political stability that the mid-term national election will not happen in 2008 as the ruling Congress party at the Centre lost the elections in Gujarat.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) was up by 691.55 points or 3.61 per cent at 19,854.12 and the 50-share NSE Nifty by 218.60 points or 3.79 per cent at 5985.10.

The Sensex lost 868 points to 19162.57 in the week ended December 20 compared to 20030.83 in the week ended December 14. The Nifty also slipped by 281 points to 5766.50 from 6047.70 during the period under review.

The market regulator’s decision to allow short selling by institutions also boosted sentiment.

Sentiment is expected to get further boost on the news that the Government has decided to allow trusts to invest in stock markets after making amendments to the Indian Trust Act 1982, which would be moved in the next parliament session. This decision will help release thousands of crores of surplus funds to stock markets.

Asian stock markets also edged higher on Monday tracking the U.S. markets, which ended higher led by technology and energy stocks. Key benchmark indices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan were up by 1.07 per cent to 2.60 per cent.

Stocks of technology and banking sectors led the rally on Monday on the BSE. Technology stocks outperformed all indices after a long gap. These stocks were underperforming compared to other sectoral indices on the back of rupee appreciation as this would have affected the financial results of technology companies. The BSE IT index closed at 4581.61, which was up by 6.04 per cent. It surged ahead of the announcement of third quarter earnings, which will begin in January 2008.

The BSE Bankex was up by 363.15 points or 3.38 per cent at 11101.74. While top gainers on the bourses were Wipro, Infosys Technologies, HDFC, Satyam, Reliance Energy, GAIL, VSNL and PNB, the most actively traded shares were IFCI, Reliance Energy and Reliance Industries. The index heavy weight Reliance Industries gained more than three per cent and the recently listed Mundra Port 12 per cent. The BSE Midcap index closed at 9211.71, up by 2.06 per cent and the Smallcap index at 11980.57, up 1.42 per cent. The BSE-500 was up by 3.06 per cent at 8240.16.

Other sectors which helped the rally are: metal, oil and gas, power telecom and capital goods. The BSE Metal index gained by three per cent at 18820.79, Oil and gas index by 3.53 per cent at 12678.32 and the Power index by 3.37 per cent at 4353.21.

The BSE Realty index closed at 11818.52, up 1.76 per cent and the Capital Goods index at 19223.88, up 2.66 per cent. The Healthcare index was up by 1.23 per cent at 4294.83, FMCG index by 0.92 per cent at 2218.74 and the auto index by 0.82 per cent at 5586.83.

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