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Firm global trend pushes Sensex up 133 points; Nifty surges 33 points

Encouraged by firm trends in world markets and an assurance on buyback by the Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, share prices registered handsome gains at the Bombay Stock Exchange on the heavy buying by foreign funds and bull operators.

The BSE Sensex went past the 3200 mark and gained by about 133 points during the week ended September 25.

Pharmaceutical scrips like Dr Reddy's and Glaxo, two-wheeler major Hero Honda, BHEL and Tobacco giant ITC recorded remarkable gains alongwith software leaders like Infosys Technologies, Pentafour Software, NIIT and Satyam Computers.

Indian Hotels, Ranbaxy, L&T, M&M, State Bank of India, Reliance and Procter and Gamble also reported smart gains on good buying support.

Mirroring the trend, the market opened on a weak note and witnessed a firm trend in last three sessions while reported marginal decline on the last day of trading cycle.

The 30-scrip BSE Sensex closed higher by 132.85 points to 3223.57 points against the previous week's close of 3090.72. The broad-based BSE-100 index also advanced by 52.50 points to 1424.72 points from the previous week's close of 1372.22 points. BSE-200 and Dollex indices closed higher by 11.91 and 4.72 points to 329.28 and 128.96 points against the last Friday's close of 317.37 and 124.24 points respectively.

A reversal of trends in the world markets, notably Hong Kong, Tokyo and New York boosted market sentiments on the BSE on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Sinha's statement that necessary amendments to the Companies Act are being worked out to introduce buyback of shares also aided the uptrend. His other announcement that PSU shares would be sold to retail investors attracted the bulls to take long-term positions in the index based scrips, market sources said.

Cement giant ACC increased marginally by Rs 1.50 to Rs 1159.50, Bajaj Auto advanced by Rs 41.25 to Rs 690, BHEL Rs 43.90 to Rs 298.50, BSES Rs 5.50 to Rs 165.80, Cadbury Rs 7.50 to Rs 394.50, Castrol Rs 8.50 to Rs 606.50, Colgate Rs 5.20 to Rs 190.50, Dr Reddy's Rs 88.25 to Rs 501, Glaxo Rs 45.75 to Rs 473.25, Hero Honda Rs 77.25 to Rs 652.75, Hindalco Rs 18.75 to Rs 526, Hindustan Lever Rs 44 to Rs 1684.75, India Hotels Rs 29.75 to Rs 395.25, Infotech earned Rs 185.25 to Rs 2508.75, Ingersoil Rs 5 to Rs 451.75, ITC Rs 57.20 to Rs 710.75, L&T Rs 12.80 to Rs 194.50, M&M Rs 12.40 to Rs 188.40, MTNL Rs 4.60 to Rs 215.60, NIIT Rs 68.55 to Rs 1381, Novartis 31.75 to Rs 600.75, Pentafour Software Rs 112.25 to Rs 727.25, Pond's Rs 11.50 to Rs 1229.50, Procter and Gamble Rs 23.75 to Rs 784.75, Ranbaxy Rs 16.75 to Rs 564, SBI Rs 14.80 to Rs 211, Satyam Comp Rs 32.75 to Rs 550 and Tata Tea Rs 19.30 to Rs 302.

Among the losers, Grasim dropped by Rs 13.50 to Rs 158, India Rayon lost Rs 10 to Rs 128 and Zee Telefilms Rs 27.75 to Rs 670.25.

The total turnover on the BSE rose by Rs 10.13 billion to Rs 69.19 billion against the previous week's turnover of Rs 59.06 billion.

The National Stock Exchange, the country's another largest stock exchange, also witnessed bullish trend during the week.

The S&P CNX Nifty gained by 33.30 points to 934.95 points from the last Friday's close of 901.65 points. CNX Nifty Junior registered gained sharply by 66.05 points to 1546.45 points against the previous week's close of 1480.40 points.

The CNX Defty and CNX-500 closed higher by 27.60 and 23.23 points to 762.30 and 636.04 points from the previous week's close of 734.70 and 612.81 points.

CNX Midcap-200 added 21.48 points to 555.11 points against the previous week's close of 533.63 points.

Total turnover on the NSE went up by Rs 12.26 billion to Rs 79.07 billion against last week's turnover of Rs 65.81 billion.

UNI