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Marginal rise in share prices, Nifty up 1.40 points

Share prices gained marginally at the National Stock Exchange today on speculative buying support from local operators.

Mirroring the trend, the S&P CNX Nifty Index opened at 866.25 points, touched the day's high of 874.65, fell to a low of 858.70, and closed at 858.70 points, showing a net gain of 1.40 points against yesterday's closing of 857.30.

The CNX Nifty Junior posted a moderate gain of 10.20 points to close at 1458.20.

The S&P CNX Defty ended 0.95 points higher at 699.40 points. It had closed yesterday at 698.45 points.

The S&P CNX-500 and CNX Midcap-200 recovered by 1.98 and 2.46 points, respectively, to close at 585.30 points and 526.17 points. Their previous closing figures were 583.32 and 523.71 points, respectively.

The total turnover on the NSE today was Rs 17,784 million. In all, 75.908 million shares changed hands in 239,758 trades during the day. The value of debentures traded on the exchange stood at Rs 2,273,000.

The exchange saw 627 securities advance, 323 decline and 100 remain unchanged. Fifty-four securities hit their price bands.

Satyam Computer posted the highest turnover of Rs 2,569.6 million, followed by Pentafour Software at Rs 2,521.6 million, ITC at Rs 1,501.5 million, Zee Telefilms at Rs 1,099.8 million, and TELCO at Rs 879.9 million.

Other actively traded scrips today were Silverline (Rs 805.6 million), Reliance (Rs 773.3 million), Tata Tea (Rs 764.9 million), Infosys Tech (Rs 711.4 million), HCL-HP (Rs 583.8 million), SBI (Rs 508.5 million), TISCO (Rs 416.6 million), L&T (Rs 369.4 million), Square D Software (Rs 324.5 million), Glaxo (Rs 294.1million), Dabur (Rs 253.6 million), Castrol (Rs 203.0 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 187.7 million), ACC (Rs 181.0 million), NIIT (Rs 176.0 million), MTNL (Rs 140.9 million), Rolta (Rs 138.0 million), LML (Rs 116.6 million), Sterlite (Rs 115.1 million), Dr Reddy's Labs (Rs 105.7 million).

The top five gainers were Cochin Refineries, which closed at Rs 127.10 (Rs 121.50 yesterday), HPCL Rs 234.50 (Rs 225.40), Tata Tea Rs 340.30 (Rs 331.00), L&T Rs 151.60 (Rs 147.50) and Indian Hotels Rs 357.55 (Rs 350).

The losers included Grasim Rs 174 (Rs 179), Glaxo Rs 601 (Rs 617), Castrol Rs 690 (Rs 708.15), SmithKline Beecham Rs 544 (Rs 555.80) and Reliance Petro Rs 19.10 (Rs 19.50).

The total outflow by foreign institutional investors was Rs 48.9 million while that by Indian financial institutions was Rs 25 million.

The NSE's wholesale debt market witnessed trades worth Rs 1721.4 million. The 11.40 per cent government loan maturing in 2000 was traded for Rs 240 million at a weighted yield of 11.33 per cent. The 91-day treasury bill maturing on March 20, 1999, was traded for Rs 200 million at a yield of 9.59 per cent.

Non-SLR bonds of the Industrial Development Bank of India maturing in 2005 were traded for Rs 300 million at a yield of 13.94 per cent.

UNI

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