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Sensex zooms past 5500-mark

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MUMBAI DEC. 19. The bullish trend continued on the bourses on Friday and gains were seen almost across-the-board on sustained buying by local mutual funds and foreign institutional investors which pushed the Sensex above the 5500-mark. The index soared to a 45-month high during trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Heavy buying was witnessed in front-line and second-line stocks.

Index heavyweights such as ONGC (up 4.6 per cent to Rs. 743), Reliance Industries (up 2.7 per cent to Rs. 521), State Bank of India (up 2.1 per cent to Rs. 490) and Hindustan Lever (up 1.3 per cent to Rs. 201) were major contributors. Apart from these, stock-specific action continued in a number of mid-cap side counters. The sentiment was boosted by a rally on Wall Street on Thursday and news that the Government had taken an in-principle decision to hike the FDI limit to 74 per cent in the banking sector.

Starting on a strong footing at 5486.63, the BSE 30-share sensitive index gradually moved up to the intra-day high of 5555.68 before closing for the week at 5541.35 against the previous close of 5455.00, a net rise of 86.35 points or 1.58 per cent. The broad-based BSE-100 index spurted by 48.63 points to 2892.48. Among sectors, technology stocks surged following overnight gains in the U.S. markets, while cyclicals — cement, automobile and power — also traded firm.

L & T (up 9.3 per cent to Rs. 501) was the star performer of the session. Other cement shares also remained firm on sustained buying following reports that cement prices may rise further. Grasim (up 3.8 per cent to Rs. 985), ACC (up 1.1 per cent to Rs. 230) and Gujarat Ambuja (up 0.7 per cent to Rs. 302) ended in the positive territory.

Automobile pivotals Hero Honda Motor (up 3.6 per cent to Rs. 412), Bajaj Auto (up1.6 per cent to Rs. 1,097) and Tata Motors (up 0.16 per cent to Rs. 434) noted gains on sustained buying on hopes of improved quarterly results. MNC pharma stocks were also in the limelight. Glaxo (up 9 per cent to Rs. 620) and Novartis (up 4.7 per cent to Rs. 432) were the major gainers. However, profit taking was seen at higher levels in select PSE stocks such as HPCL, BPCL and BHEL.

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