Global cues continue to inspire equities; Sensex up 81 points
By our correspondent (Bombay Stock Exchange)
17 May 2008
MUMBAI — Rally in Asian and European markets, and firm US stock futures indicating higher opening of US stocks yesterday helped Indian market shrug off a surge in inflation to highest level in more than three years.
hares from banking and metal advanced on renewed buying. The wholesale price index rose 7.83 per cent in 12 months to May 3, higher than previous week’s annual rise of 7.61 per cent, government data released yesterday, showed. It was the highest since an annual reading of 7.93 per cent on November 6, 2004. Meanwhile, the government also revised inflation for the week ended March 8 sharply upwards to 7.78 per cent as compared to 5.92 per cent reported earlier.
The 30-share BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex) opened with positive gap 123 points at 17,476, and soon slipped into a negative zone hitting intra-day low of 17,315. Fresh buying in banking stocks helped the benchmark number rebound into the positive zone hitting a high of 17,497 — up 182 points from day’s low. The Sensex finally ended with a gain of 81 points at 17,435.
The Sensex has gained 682.08 points or 4.07 per cent in three trading sessions from 16752.86 on May 13, on firm global markets and due to depreciation of the rupee against the dollar which has lifted export driven IT shares.
The NSE Nifty moved up 42.45 points to close at 5,158. Nifty May 2008 futures were at 5148 a discount of 9.70 points as compared to spot closing.
The overall turnover on the BSE amounted to Rs61.37 billion from Rs64.85 billion on Thursday. Turnover in NSE’s futures & options segment amounted to Rs378.77 billion from Rs381.96 billion on Thursday.
The market breadth was marginally positive — out of 2,768 stocks traded, 1,547 advanced, 1,137 declined and 84 were unchanged. In the 30-member list of Sensex shares, 18 were up while 12 declined. Ranbaxy was the top gainer from the Sensex list, up 3.3 per cent to Rs511. Reliance Communications and Hindustan Unilever gained 2.1 per cent to Rs602 and Rs244, respectively. HDFC Bank and Jaiprakash Associates advanced 1.7 per cent each to Rs1,502 and Rs270, respectively.
SBI and ICICI Bank moved up around 1.4 per cent each at Rs1,704 and Rs941, respectively. Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors and Tata Steel added over 1 per cent each to Rs2,996, Rs670 and Rs891, respectively. Satyam, DLF and Reliance Infrastructure were the other major gainers yesterday. Of the 12 decliners, Ambuja Cements, Infosys, HDFC and TCS declined 1 per cent each at Rs111, Rs1,871, Rs2767 and Rs976, respectively. Bharti Airtel, Cipla and Wipro dropped over 0.5 per cent each to Rs851, Rs212 and Rs506, respectively.
On the corporate news scenario, Reliance Communications gained 2.73 per cent to Rs605.10 after its 95 per cent infrastructure subsidiary Reliance Infratel reportedly secured the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)’s nod for public issue. The Anil Ambani group company may offload a 10.05 per cent stake in Reliance Infratel to raise Rs50-60 billion through the IPO.
Bharti Airtel shed 1.13 per cent to Rs846.50. The company’s plan for taking over South African telecom major MTN has reportedly entered into a crucial negotiation phase. While Bharti Airtel is ready to acquire 51 per cent stake, MTN’s management wants it to buyout the entire company. Larsen & Toubro slipped from day’s high of Rs3033. It closed with gain of 0.56 per cent to Rs2997. The company said it had entered into a partnership agreement with GE Energy, a unit of General Electric, for power plant control systems in India. NTPC slipped 0.16 per cent to Rs191.35 on reports the Finance Ministry has turned down its proposal for selling 4.75 per cent stake through follow-on public offer. The Government holds 89.5 per cent in the utility.
