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Speculative buying sustains uptrend; Sensex up 88 points, Nifty up 29.5 points

Speculative buying in heavy-weighted scrips maintained the bullish phase on the Bombay Stock Exchange by pushing the BSE Sensex up by 88 points during the week ended January 1, 1999.

Reflecting the trend, the 30-scrip BSE Sensex ended at 3060.34 points, netting a gain of 88.36 points as against the previous week's close of 2963.45 points. The broad-based BSE-100 index too flared up by 48.18 points to 1362.23 points from the last week's close of 1314.05 points.

According to leading analysts, the market is likely to display bullish phase in the first quarter of 1999. The analysts were very much optimistic on FIIs' current year's allocation for India.

The badla rates on Saturday ruled higher at 20 per cent as against last week's 15-18 per cent which also gives an indication of the firm trend ahead, leading BSE brokers said.

The BSE-200 and Dollex indices advanced by 10.69 and 4.38 points to 314.49 and 123.28 points from the previous week's close of 303.80 and 118.90 points respectively.

The Sensex opened with the gap of 45 points and penetrated the resitance area of 3020-3085 with increasing volume, in the earlier part of the week. But in the later part of the week, it remained subdued, and took support on the same crucial level as the foreign institutional investors turned sellers.

The holiday mood on account of New Year's eve restricted market activity in the last part of the week.

Among the issues, cement giant ACC flared up by Rs 61.25 to Rs 1,010, Arvind Mills Rs 6.20 to Rs 39.70, Ashok Leyland Rs 7.60 to Rs 44.80, BHEL Rs 15.30 to Rs 263.30, BSES Rs 4 to Rs 142, Cadbury's Rs 23.75 to Rs 475, Colgate Rs 6.70 to Rs 197.10, Crompton Greaves Rs 6.20 to Rs 52.20, Dr Reddy's Rs 17.75 to Rs 489, Glaxo Rs 18.75 to Rs 613.50, Grasim Rs 6.40 to Rs 180.50, Hindalco Rs 18 to Rs 517.25, India Hotels Rs 3.75 to Rs 356.25, Infosys Technologies Rs 22.50 to Rs 2937.75, ITC Rs 54 to Rs 754, L&T Rs 10.60 to Rs 161.40, Mahindra & Mahindra Rs 8 to Rs 166.50, Nestle Rs 12.50 to Rs 457.50.

NIIT shot up by Rs 77 to Rs 1,625, Novartis Rs 19.75 to Rs 825, Pentafour Software Rs 90 to Rs 741, Ranbaxy Rs 6 to Rs 267.20, Raymond Rs 28 to Rs 93.60, Reliance Rs 5.50 to Rs 121.50, Satyam Computers Rs 75.50 to Rs 739.25, SBI Rs 6.10 to Rs 157.60, Tisco Rs 10.30 to Rs 123.50 and Voltas Rs 29.45 to Rs 133.60.

Total turnover on the BOLT system of the BSE rose sharply by Rs 15.84 billion to Rs 72.30 billion as against the last week's turnover of Rs 56.45 billion.

The National Stock Exchange also witnessed uptrend during the week ended January 1, 1999.

Mirroring the trend, the S&P CNX Nifty rose by 29.50 points to 890.60 points from the previous week's close of 861.10 points.

The Nifty Junior shot up by 69.40 points to 1530.10 points from the last week's close of 1460.70 points.

CNX Defty advanced by 25.35 points to 726.85 points from the last week's finish of 701.50 points.

The CNX-500 and Midcap-200 ended higher by 27.65 and 13.98 points to 613.95 and 549.97 points as against the previous week's close of 586.30 and 525.99 points respectively.

Total turnover on the NSE jumped up by Rs 29.89 billion to 9984.46 points as against last week's total turnover of Rs 69.95 billion.

UNI

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