Sensex touches 10,000 points

By agencies   |   Monday, 06 February 2006, 20:30 IST
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MUMBAI: India's main stock index (BSE) rose 2.5 percent to hit 10,000 points for the first time as cash rich mutual funds bought shares in companies such as ICICI Bank Ltd. and Reliance Industries. The Sensex posted a 1,000-point rally in 70 days. Nifty did its bit for history too breaching the 3,000 barrier. The wide-based National Stock Exchange Index, Nifty, spurted by 66.55 points to set a record high of 3,007.15. The major support to the Sensex came from Reliance Industries, Infosys, ICICI bank, ACC, Bajaj Auto, Housing Development Finance Corporation and Larsen and Toubro. Any change in the share prices of Reliance Industries, Infosys Tech and ICICI bank changes the market scenario as the trio enjoys over 30 percent weightage on the index. The benchmark 30-share BSE index rose 2.7 percent to 10,002.83 points. Nalanda Securities, Managing Director, Ketan Dedhia said, “Local funds are actively buying shares in ICICI, Tata Steel and Reliance. A bit of short-covering is also helping the market.” The previous high was 9,993.92 on February 1. Earlier in the day, India's main stock index rose more than 1 percent on Monday, led by ICICI Bank on market talk that foreign funds would be allowed to resume buying shares in the country's largest private bank. Shares in ICICI, which have a weight of 9.2 percent in the benchmark BSE index, jumped 5.7 percent to 603.15 rupees. The BSE index was up 1.4 percent at 9,875 points. Gainers beat losers by 1,361 to 695 in good volume of about 56 million shares. The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty was up 1 percent at 2,971.60. “ICICI Bank is pushing the market on expectation that foreign investors can buy 0.5 to 0.6 percent more shares,” said Amish Choksi, vice president at Edelweiss Capital. The bank has a 49 percent cap on foreign portfolio holding. Traders said there was market talk the holding had recently dropped below the limit.