Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Indian shares end week higher on buying in index heavyweights
Friday, 05 September 2003, 19:30 IST
MUMBAI: India's benchmark share market index finished the week Friday in the positive zone, extending its gain to second consecutive session, as investors rushed to pick up index heavyweight counters on earnings growth hopes.
Dealers said that the market opened higher and rallied smartly higher in the early trade session on institutional buying in shares of technology and select old economy companies.
The rally gained momentum in the second half of the trading session as domestic investors and select foreign institutional investors rushed to pick up index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries and Hindustan Lever.
In the end, the stock market barometer 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index or Sensex closed at 4,369.17, representing a gain of 58.66 points or 1.36 percent over its previous session's close.
"The market mood is very bullish and the large-scale fund inflows into the trading ring is not allowing the technical correction to set in despite some of the blue-chip equities touching the overbought zone," said a market analyst.
"The rally will continue in the sessions ahead as well, provided there is no major negative news that could shake investor confidence."
The seemingly never-ending rally on the bourses has already helped the key share market index to register a gain of nearly 30 percent since the beginning of the current calendar year.
The benchmark stock market index has also gained over 50 percent since touching a six-month low on April 25.
Indian stocks had remained dormant since the dotcom bust around three years ago. A flood of accusations of shady dealing and stock price manipulation had also kept the investors and companies away from the market.
The prospects of sharply higher economic growth in the current fiscal year boosted by normal monsoon rains across the country have enthused share market investors in a big way in recent months.
In the old economy sector, consumer goods giant Hindustan Lever gained 3.5 percent to touch 
193.55 and Reliance Industries, the country's largest refiner and petrochemicals maker, closed with a gain of 2.2 percent at 419.40.
Tobacco giant ITC rose 3.1 percent to 838.05, and State Bank of India, the largest commercial bank, ended 1.2 percent higher at 435.25 on fresh institutional buying.
Tata Motors, the automobile manufacturing arm of the diversified Tata group, ended 3.2 percent higher at 283.40 after the company said its sales rose 37 percent in August 2003 to 24,831 units from 18,125 in August 2002.
In the technology sector, Infosys Technologies, India's largest listed software exporter, fell 0.3 percent to 4,205.50 and Wipro, the largest software company by market value, gained 4.9 percent to touch 1,247.35.
Source: IANS
193.55 and Reliance Industries, the country's largest refiner and petrochemicals maker, closed with a gain of 2.2 percent at 419.40.
Tobacco giant ITC rose 3.1 percent to 838.05, and State Bank of India, the largest commercial bank, ended 1.2 percent higher at 435.25 on fresh institutional buying.
Tata Motors, the automobile manufacturing arm of the diversified Tata group, ended 3.2 percent higher at 283.40 after the company said its sales rose 37 percent in August 2003 to 24,831 units from 18,125 in August 2002.
In the technology sector, Infosys Technologies, India's largest listed software exporter, fell 0.3 percent to 4,205.50 and Wipro, the largest software company by market value, gained 4.9 percent to touch 1,247.35.
Source: IANS