MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Indian shares ended higher Monday with
investors, returning from a four-day weekend, seeking value deals and on short
covering in a market which has slipped to 15,000 levels from 21,000 two months
ago.
"It was a good day and this can be called a relief rally," said Sudip
Bandyopadhyay, director and CEO at Reliance Money. "The momentum today does not
mean that the market won't go down in the short run and it is difficult to
predict the bottom, but the Sensex is finding support at 14,800-14,900 points,"
he added.
The Bombay Stock Exchange's (BSE) 30-share benchmark Sensitive Index, or
Sensex, closed 294.57 points or 1.96 pct higher at 15,289.40 points while the
National Stock Exchange's (NSE) 50-share S&P CNX Nifty closed 35.90 points or
0.78 pct higher at 4,609.85 points.
Of the 30 shares the Sensex tracks, 22 advanced and 8 declined, while in the
broader BSE market there were four declines for every share that gained while 33
shares remained unchanged over their respective closes on Wednesday, the last
trading day of the previous week.
Housing Development Finance Corp Ltd (HDFC) surged 7.73 pct to 2,384.05
rupees to be the top gainer among the BSE-30 companies while Tata Steel Ltd,
country's largest private steel maker, lost the most, sliding just over 7.04 pct
to 592.45 rupees.
Index heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd gained 1.93 pct to 2,200.80 rupees
while ICICI Bank Ltd, country's biggest private lender, rose 4.98 pct to close
at 804.55 rupees.
Of the thirteen major indices on the BSE, nine advanced led by the banking
index, or Bankex, which rose 3.32 pct. Of the seventeen lenders that constitue
the banking gauge, fifteen gained.
The BSE metal index witnessed heavy selling pressure as it retreated the
most, down 5.27 pct with fourteen of the fifteen constituents declining. The
index has plummeted nearly 22 pct since Feb 22.
Software exporter HCL Technologies Ltd gained 7.51 pct to 274.05 rupees to
lead the 50-share Nifty while Cairn India Ltd, a unit of UK's Cairn Energy PLC,
was the top loser as it fell 9.35 pct to 202.60 rupees on weekend reports that
the government of western Indian state of Rajasthan had stopped or threatened to
stop work on the company's 585-kilometre pipeline. The company however denied
the report.
On the market behaviour in the mid-term, Reliance Money's Bandyopadhyay
said, "In the mid-term, Sensex is likely to trade in the 15,000-16,000 level,
and it will gradually consolidate after that."
TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com
aka/ssa
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