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Sensex extends gains for third day
| Equities of public sector units are in limelight |
MUMBAI: Extending gains for the third day in succession, the Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index, Sensex, closed higher by 94 points at 16158.28 on Friday even though it lost a big chunk of gains posted in early trade. It closed at 16063.90 on Thursday.
Sensex shot up by over 200 points in the morning taking positive cues from Asia where indices mirrored robust show by Wall Street overnight.
Banks and financial stocks on BSE, which were under pressure after the Reserve Bank of India raised provisioning norms for bad debts, surged in early trade. But soon after they came under selling pressure pulling down the
Thecontinuing positive sentiment on PSU (public sector units) shares averted a sharp fall.
Hogging the limelight throughout the day, the PSU index rose 3.91 per cent after the government on Thursday announced offloading 10 per cent stake in all listed PSUs.
PSU stocks, led by MMTC, were much in demand. MMTC, the biggest state-run trading company, hit the daily upper limit of 20 per cent before closing at Rs. 36146.85.
The broader Nifty also jumped 31 points to close at 4796.15. As per data available with market regulator SEBI ( Securities and Exchange Board of India), foreign institutional investors made investments of more than $69 billion so far in the current calendar year.
The mid-cap and small-cap shares remained in good demand for the second consecutive day.
Rupee gains 22 paise
Continuing its rising streak for the third straight session, the rupee closed higher by 22 paise against the dollar at 46.80/81 on Friday. It closed at 47.03 on Thursday.
The rupee resumed higher at 46.85/86 a dollar against Thursday’s close of 47.02/03 and hovered in a range of 46.74 and 46.88 before finishing at 46.80/81. — PTI
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