The markets looked upbeat on Wednesday after Tuesday's lull, with the benchmark Sensex gaining by over 160 points at close
MUMBAI: The markets looked upbeat on Wednesday after Tuesday's lull, with the benchmark Sensex gaining by over 160 points at close after the US Fed Reserve announced a 0.75 percentage cut in interest rates which buoyed the investor sentiments across the globe.
The 30-share Sensex on the Bombay Stock Exchange had soared by more than 600 points in early trade on global cues such as interest rate cut and more-than-expected performance by top US investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.
However, marketmen said, profit booking late in the day in some of the key counters curbed the gains and the BSE barometer came off from early highs, but it still closed on a higher note.
The Sensex settled the day 14,994.83, a tad lower than the crucial 15k level but higher by 161.37 points, or 1.09 per cent, over its last close.
The 50-issue S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also improved by 40.95 points, or 0.90 per cent, to 4,573.95 from its previous close.
Marketmen said operators and retailers played safe in the current uncertain circumstances by booking profits at the day's higher levels. Long week-end holidays starting on Thursday led most to book profits, they said, adding that it is still early to say whether investor confidence has improved or not.
The rate cut by the US Fed helped the Wall Street to notch its biggest one-day gain in more than five years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite index flared up by over 420 and 91 points respectively.
Asian indices pared early gains on weak European openings but ended the day in positive terrain.
IT stocks Satyam and Wipro figured among the prominent gainers. They shot up by 5.24 per cent and 4.64 per cent.
Traders said the domestic currency's prevailing lower levels (it touched six-and-a-half month low of 40.70 on Monday) made the IT stocks attractive. HDFC Bank, M&M and Tata Motors which posted gains in the range of 3-5 per cent were the other good performers.
Among the losers, Hindalco was the topper at 4.09 per cent. Grasim, Rel Energy, DLF and Hindustan Lever ended lower in the range of 1-2 per cent.
The market breadth continued to show feeble trend with 1,923 counters gaining against 758 losing ground.
The trading volume was dropped sharply to Rs 5,796.91 crore from Rs 6,971.56 crore on Tuesday. Reliance Capital was the most active share with the highest turnover of Rs 316.68 crore followed by REL (Rs 303.23 crore), GSS America (Rs 259.02 crore), RIL (Rs 210.88 crore) and RNRL (Rs 203.88 cr).
The broad-based BSE-100 index firmed up by 49.52 points to 7,877.53 from previous close of 7,828.01.
The BSE-200 index and the Dollex-200 were quoted better at 1,843.03 and 757.88 at close compared to last close of 1,833.31 and 751.97 respectively. The BSE-500 index also rose by 15.44 points to 5,852.81 from 5,837.37 previously. The Dollex-30 hardened to 3,040.66 from 3,000.31.
Infosys Tech moved up by 28.80 to 1341.90, Satyam Computr by 19.40 to 389.95, Wipro by 16.70 to 376.60, L&T by 75.05 to 2839.00, BHEL by 24.40 to 1848.20, Maruti by 10.25 to 822.75, Tata Motors by 31.45 to 650.45, M&M by 22.20 to 658.40, RIL by 13.70 to 2159.05, ACC by 17.15 to 775.95, Bharti Airtel by 19.65 to 777.75, Reliance Com by 9.05 to 506.45, HDFC by 10.75 to 2212.95, HDFC Bank by 38.35 to 1270.05, ITC by 4.15 to 187.40, ONGC by 5.80 to 992.40 and SBI by 10.65 to 1602.85.
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