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Nifty gains 34.50 points on heavy buying

Pivotals gained sharply at the National Stock Exchange following heavy buying in the post-Budget trading session today, the last day of the weekly trading settlement.

Reflecting the bullish sentiments, the S&P CNX Nifty opened at 992.45 points, rose to 1,018.40 points, touched the day's low of 984.45 points and closed at 1015.80 points, a net gain of 34.50 points from the previous close of 981.30 points.

The CNX-Nifty Junior shot up by 79.35 points to 1852.80 from the previous close of 1773.45 points.

The S&P CNX Defty rose by 29.45 points to 828.45 points from the previous close of 799.

The S&P CNX-500 and CNX Midcap-200 appreciated smartly by 20.44 and 18.18 points to close at 707.84 points and 636.36 points, respectively. Their previous closing figures were 687.40 and 618.18 points, respectively.

The day's turnover on the exchange was Rs24,813.9 million from 327,291 trades in 117.156 million shares.

The exchange saw 514 securities advance, 581 decline and 72 remain unchanged while 142 securities hit their price bands.

ITC's turnover was the highest at Rs3919.4 million, followed by Satyam Computers (Rs2043 million), Pentafour Software (Rs1868.5 million), Reliance Industries (Rs1824.9 million), Tata Tea (Rs1219.8 million) and State Bank of India (Rs1101.6 million).

Other actively traded counters were Silverline (Rs1067.2 million), Zee Telefilms (Rs986.3 million), SquareD Software (Rs695.7 million), Castrol (Rs580.3 million), Larsen & Toubro (Rs575 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs551.2 million), HCL-HP (Rs548.4 million), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (Rs418.9 million), Ranbaxy (Rs401.8 million), TISCO (Rs395.4 million), TELCO (Rs392.8 million), Digital Equipment (Rs382.9 million), ACC (Rs381.5 million), NIIT (Rs318 million), Global Telecom (Rs270.2 million), BHEL (Rs220.5 million), Aptech (Rs219.6 million), Rolta (Rs215.9 million) and Infosys Technologies (Rs205.7 million).

The five major gainers of the day were Ranbaxy, which closed at Rs320 (previous: Rs 305), Gujarat Ambuja Cement at Rs261.70 (Rs 254), Cipla at Rs1,040 (Rs1,024), ABB at Rs509 (Rs502.25) and MTNL at Rs165.10 (Rs164.30).

The losers were Hindustan Petroleum at Rs206.90 (Rs220), Cochin Refineries at Rs144.70 (Rs151.70), BHEL at Rs241 (Rs251.90), Grasim Industries at Rs151 (Rs157.05) and ICICI at Rs47.25 (Rs49).

The wholesale debt market of the NSE witnessed trades worth Rs7343.2 million. The 12.5 per cent government stock maturing in 2004 was traded for Rs1,300 million at a weighted yield of 11.84 per cent. The 11.55 per cent government loan maturing in 2001 was traded for Rs1,290 million at a weighted yield of 11.36 per cent. The 11.40 per cent government loan maturing in 2000 was traded for Rs1,150 million at a weighted yield of 11.14 per cent. The 364-day treasury bill maturing on February 25, 2000, was traded for Rs510.5 million at a weighted yield of 10.56 per cent.

UNI

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