The Hindu : Business : Easing oil prices buoy Sensex

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 27, 2004

Business

Business

Easing oil prices buoy Sensex

MUMBAI, AUG. 26. The market continued its upward march for the third consecutive session and the BSE Sensex today shot up by another 47 points at close in response to easing crude oil prices and short-covering on the concluding day of August contract in derivatives.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index opened strong at 5105.38 and later advanced to the intra-day high of 5145.60 in limited activity in a range of 40 points, before ending at 5135.45 against yesterday's close of 5088.56, a net rise of 46.89 points.

Operators and domestic financial institutions reportedly were good buyers in select few counters. However, foreign institutional investors have slowed down activity and were net sellers in the initial three sessions.

Operators and retail investors seemed to have made fresh commitments in cash segments following reports that oil prices have fallen by nearly $6 from a record high of almost $50 a barrel last week.

Brokers said stabilising oil prices have helped soothe market worries over the outlook for growth and also attributed the initial price rally partly to overnight upsurge on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index yesterday ended up by 83.11 points and 23.80 points respectively. Blue chip counters including Bajaj Auto, BHEL, HDFC Bank, HPCL, HDFC, Hindalco, ITC, Ranbaxy, RIL and SBI scored sharp gains on fairly heavy buying support.

However, Grasim, GACL, MTNL and Tata Steel showed modest falls.

The broad-based BSE-100 index firmed up further by 29.40 points to 2749.49.

— PTI

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