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Sensex surges 388 points at close
By siliconindia
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Tuesday, 18 May 2004, 19:30 IST
MUMBAI: The market traded firm, but range-bound as stock prices moved in the narrow ranges after a firm opening and subsequent gains as trading progressed. Almost all the stocks were trading with gains after Mondays carnage.
At close the BSE Sensex was up 388.48 points at 4,893.64.
The NSE S & P CNX Nifty Index ended up 113.50 points at 1,502.25 .
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its annual monetary policy that it expects the economy to grow by 6.5-7.0% in the current fiscal, on the back of a normal monsoon and a pick-up in industrial activity and exports.
As expected, the central bank kept the benchmark bank rate unchanged at 6%, to encourage investment and manufacturing in the economy. It left the repo rate at 4.5%.
The RBI also forecast inflation at around 5% for the financial year, slightly below last year's average of 5.4% but added it would keep a close eye on price movements.
Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) asserted that the Indian financial markets were safe for investing and there was no payment crisis on the bourses.
The market regulator held a meeting to review the settlement problem and risk management and found that there was no problem in settlement. A part of Mondays fall was also amid rumours of payment crisis in the market.
Stocks also rose on bargain-hunting after Mondays crash.
HDFC Bank (up 15.95% to Rs 331.90) firmed up on fresh buying after crashing nearly 21% on Monday.
Power sector pivotals Reliance Energy (up 13.90% to Rs 543.95) and Tata Power (up 4.34% to Rs 272.90) traded higher on fresh buying after Mondays fall.
Tech pivotals Wipro (up 11.74% to Rs 1,410) and Infosys Tech (up 5.70% to Rs 4,785) traded firm on renewed buying interest after recent fall.
Satyam Computer (down 0.27% to Rs 292.30) remained subdued having come off its days high of Rs 305 on selling at higher levels after early recovery.
Over 14.23 lakh Satyam shares were traded on BSE so far.
Pharma pivotals Cipla (up 9.75% to Rs 237.50) and Dr Reddys Labs (up 7.83% to Rs 849.30) also attracted defensive buying after recent fall from the higher levels.
Ranbaxy Labs (down 0.69% to Rs 963) was trading lower having come off its days high of Rs 986 on selling at higher levels after early gains.
Among PSU pivotals, while MTNL (up 8.49% to Rs 115.60), Bhel (up 3.94% to Rs 414) traded steady, weakness continued in HPCL (down 4.07% to Rs 302) and ONGC (down 0.28% to Rs 628).
Heavyweights Reliance Industries (up 9.02% to Rs 440), ITC (up 8.45% to Rs 898), Hindustan Lever (up 8.15% to Rs 130.05) and State Bank of India (up 4.70% to Rs 46