The Hindu : Select shares move up

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 18, 2004

Business

Business

Select shares move up

MUMBAI, FEB. 17. Led by top heavyweight Reliance Industries, select key stocks rallied smartly, aiding the Sensex to end 23 points higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange today on fairly good buying support from domestic mutual funds as well as foreign institutional investors.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened moderately up at 6018.95 and gradually moved upwards to the intra-day high of 6058.99 before ending at 6035.80 against yesterday's close of 6012.35, a net rise of 23.45 points.

Heavyweighted counters such as RIL, SBI, BHEL, Tisco, Satyam Computer, L&T, Infosys Technologies, ICICI Bank and Grasim scored impressive gains on fresh buying by private mutual funds.

Operators and retailers, however, seemed to have adopted a wait and watch policy in view of the forthcoming public issues in six major companies during the next couple of months. The FIIs who have slowed down their activity since the last three to four sessions, were believed to be selective buyers in blue chip stocks, brokers said.

One of the top heavyweights, HLL, suffered a sharp setback due to selling pressure, mitigating the Sensex rally. During the session, HLL reported a flat growth in net profit for the year ended December 31, 2003.

Other index-based counters such as HPCL, ONGC, Wipro and Zee Telefilms also recorded moderate losses. — PTI

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