Sensex Ends 1% Higher, Inflation Up

Ivaylo
02 Feb, 2001
New York City

Buying in large-caps in IT, pharma and capital goods sector drove the rally on Friday. Many stocks finished at all-time highs on strong results. The market-breadth was strong as small-cap and mid-cap shares also participated in the rally. Reliance Communications, L&T and HDFC were the other prominent advancers. NTPC led the decliners, together with stocks that rallied in recent session like SBI and Hero Honda. Reliance Industries also fell. Inflation rose for the week, ending January 20.

[R]8:00AM NY-7:00PM Mumbai Sensex surges to an all-time high Friday on large-cap rally.[/R]
The Sensex on BSE closed 136.59 points, or 0.96%, higher, at 14,403.77. The market-breadth was strong as 1,396 shares advanced, 1,274 declined and 52 remained unchanged. Of the 30 stocks in the Sensex, 23 advanced, while the rest declined. The turnover on BSE was Rs Rs 5,433 crore, as compared to Rs 4,012 crore on Thursday. On NSE, the turnover amounted to Rs 10,257.56 crore, higher than 8,033.66 crore on Thursday.

Economic news

Inflation in India rose 6.11% in the week ending January 20, slightly higher than the expected 6%, on an increase in the prices of manufactured products and foods.

The rupee touched one-year high in morning trade on Friday supported by the rally on the stock market and the weaker dollar. It was at 44.10/11 per dollar.

IBM announced a 37% growth in 2006 in India, compared with the same period earlier led by servers, storage, software and services.

Trading highlights

BF Utilities was the most active stock with a turnover of Rs 232.32 crore followed by Gitanjali Gems and Auto Industries.

Advancers

Bharti Airtel led the gainers, up 5.39% to Rs 771.05, on a volume of 5.72 lakh shares. Reliance Communications also advance 3.54% to Rs 490.55, as it is expected to report strong growth in new subscriptions.

L&T surged 4.89% to Rs 1,679, rallying to an all-time high of Rs 1,690. HDFC was up 3.74% to Rs 1,735.05, and Reliance Energy gained 1.83% to Rs 534.10.

IT stocks were in focus. Wipro gained 3.38% to Rs 643.45, TCS added 0.53% to Rs 1,299.40 and Satyam Computer added 3.53% to Rs 490.90.

Gujarat Ambuja Cements surged 2.48% to Rs 142.80, as it posted its Q3 results. Net profit advanced Rs 337 crore, compared to Rs 87.90 crore for the same time a year ago and net sales rose to Rs 1,329 crore, against Rs 773 crore for the previous period.

Tata Steel rebounded after plunging sharply by around 12% in the past two sessions, on worries that it had overvalued Corus. Tata Steel gained 1.14% to Rs 462.95. Maruti Udyog finished 0.61% higher to Rs 945.05, as the company lifted the prices of its cars by up to Rs 12,000.

Decliners

NTPC led the decliners, dipping 2.30% to Rs 142.35, on a volume of 6.33 lakh shares. SBI, which had surged yesterday, lost 2.20% to Rs 1,177, while Hero Honda shed 1.22% to Rs 715.25. Index heavy Reliance Industries declined 0.24% to Rs 1,372.30.