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Sustained buying keeps gains coming, Sensex up 172 points

MUMBAI — The market rallied for the second straight day as buying momentum continued in index pivotals, specially index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) which struck a fresh all-time high of Rs1688.15.

All the BSE sector indices settled with gains, except the BSE auto index, dragged by Bajaj Auto.

But, technically, the Sensex, which has been moving in a trading range of 13,700 and 14,300, since the past few weeks, was not able to give a clear breakout above the 14,300 mark on closing basis. However, the Nifty zoomed above the 4,200 level.

The highlight of the day was auto major Bajaj Auto, which swung sharply and tumbled over 10 per cent reacting to results which were unveiled yesterday afternoon.

The 30-shares BSE Sensex settled with a sharp gain of 172.40 points or 1.22 per cent at 14,299.71. It opened higher at 14,217.36, after notching a 198-point rally on Wednesday, May 16, 2007, and surged to a high of 14,352.98 as buying intensified. Firm global markets have been aiding the rally in the Indian markets.

From a recent low of 13,771.23 on May 10, 2007, the Sensex gained 356.08 points, or 2.58 per cent, to 14,127.31 on May 16, 2007 in four trading sessions.

The S&P CNX Nifty added 48.60 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 4,219.55. It is now eyeing its all-time high of 4,245.30, which was struck on 8 February 2007.

HPCL (up 3.44 per cent to Rs306.50), SBI (up 3.35 per cent to Rs1327.15), BPCL (up 3.13 per cent to Rs379.45), Reliance (up 3.09 per cent to Rs1685.25) and IPCL (up 2.97 per cent to Rs333.15), were the top gainers from the Nifty pack.

The market was further boosted after Bank of Japan (BoJ) left rates unchanged. The world's second largest economy cooled in the first quarter as companies cut spending on concern that exports to the US will slow. Gross domestic product grew at an annual 2.4 per cent rate in the three months ended March 31, 2007, the Cabinet Office said in Tokyo yesterday. The fourth-quarter figure was revised to 5 per cent from 5.5 per cent.

All the Asian indices except the Nikkei 225 (down 0.17 per cent) logged gains. The Nikkei average lost 30.40 points at 17,498.60 as Japan's growth data added to concerns about corporate capital spending, leading to selling of Fanuc Ltd. and other machinery shares All the European markets, except Swiss Market, advanced. The Hang Seng index rose 0.27 per cent.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs5,924.99 crore, which was higher than Wednesday's turnover of Rs5,179 crore The NSE F&O turnover was at Rs36,666.36 crore, while the total market wide turnover was Rs54,938.64 crore.

The market breadth turned negative on BSE, with 1,362 shares declining as compared to 1,254 that advanced, while 88 remained unchanged. This is in sharp contrast from the morning session, when 1,097 shares had advanced as compared to 311 that slipped.

The BSE Mid-Cap index ended at 6,088.79, up 47.46 points, or 0.8 per cent, while the BSE Small-Cap Index closed at 7,212.56, up 6.60 points, or 0.1 per cent, from its previous close.

Among the Sensex pack, 23 advanced while the rest declined.