The Hindu : Business : Sensex gains 27 points in cautious trading

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Thursday, Jul 08, 2004

Business

Business

Sensex gains 27 points in cautious trading

MUMBAI, JULY 7. The Bombay Stock Exchange today witnessed a cautious rally for the second straight session pushing the Sensex up by 27 points at close in response to the populist Railway Budget that kept both freight and fare rates unchanged. Though investors, which were somewhat optimistic about the Union Budget, preferred to keep away from making any large commitment even as the Economic Survey called for `overhauling' of tax exemption regime expressing concern over low Tax-GDP ratio.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened weak at 4919.54 and later turned volatile fluctuating in a range of 4987.05 and 4912.22 before ending the day at 4955.97 against yesterday's close of 4928.59, a net gain of 27.38 points.

Foreign institutional investors were the principal driving force behind the market during the day. The FIIs, who reported net investments of Rs. 254 crores in the first three sessions of the month, were believed to be net buyers in old economy counters, particularly PSU stocks.

BHEL, MUL, ONGC, Tata Motors, Tisco, Tata Power, Bajaj Auto, Grasim, HPCL, HLL, HDFC, GACL, Hindalco, ITC and Ranbaxy registered remarkably gains on fresh buying support.

However, IT stocks suffered a setback in reaction to weak Nasdaq advices. The Nasdaq Composite Index yesterday ended lower by 43.23 points and the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 63.49 points.

The direction of the market will depend on the Union Budget to be presented tomorrow, brokers said. — PTI

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