The Hindu : Business : Sensex at five-month high

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 02, 2004

Business

Business

Sensex at five-month high

MUMBAI, OCT. 1. Stocks overcame early resistance and rallied sharply for the third consecutive session, aiding the Sensex to end above the five-month high at 5675.54 on heavy buying support prompted by a robust gross domestic product growth and a marginal fall in inflation rate. The BSE barometer had closed at 5669.58 on May 7 and at 5757.30 on May 6.

Attributing the initial resistance and low volume to the turnover tax that came into effect from this trading session, market players said sustained and heavy purchases by foreign institutional investors induced domestic operators to make large commitments in blue chip counters.

The BSE benchmark 30-share index that dipped to the day's low of 5573.56 after a strong start, later rallied sharply to the intra-day high of 5685.68 before ending the day at 5675.54 against yesterday's close of 5583.61, a net rise of 91.93 points or 1.65 per cent.

Retailers reportedly were heavy sellers in debt market while making large commitments on bourses.

The FIIs, who reported net inflow of Rs. 276.10 crores in the first three days of the week, reportedly made heavy purchases in blue chip counters including RIL, Tata Motors, ONGC, HDFC and L&T.

Sentiment was bolstered by a robust 7.4 per cent growth in GDP in the first quarter of the fiscal and a downtrend in the inflation rate, which dipped to 7.80 per cent during the week ended September 18 from 7.87 per cent. The fresh buying spree has helped the market absorb the new initiative of turnover tax. The broad-based BSE-100 index rose by 43.17 points to 3041.14. The volume off business was relatively low at Rs. 2,003.01 crores against Rs. 2,173.83 crores yesterday. Tata Steel were the top traded scrip with the highest turnover of Rs. 217.82 crores followed by RIL (Rs. 183.33 crores). — PTI

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