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Peace news lifts sentiment; Nifty up 10 points to 1254.00

Favourable news from Islamabad on possible pull-out of intruders from Kargil has brightened the sentiment at the National Stock Exchange with equities registering moderate gains.

Reflecting the firm trend, the S&P CNX Nifty index opened at 1244.40 points (day's low), touched the day's high of 1260.70 points, before closing at 1254.00 points, showing a gain of 9.95 points or 0.80 per cent from the previous close of 1244.05 points.

Dealers said that the players were in upbeat mood on the news that Pakistan has decided to appeal to Kashmiri militants to withdraw from Kargil sector.

The pharma and auto ancilliary shares benefitted from today's rally, dealers said.

The securities that hit the upward circuit-filters were Hindalco, Telco, Sterlite, Spic, Baroda Rayon, Century Textiles, Srichakra Tyre, Cromptan Greaves, Mafatlal, Bharat Earth Movers Limited, Mico, Jindal Photo, Apollo tyre, Kesoram India, Tata Telecom, Novartis, Voltas.

According to dealers, BPL, Pentafour Software, Ranbaxy, Reliance, Satyam Computer and ITC moved down on selling pressure.

The S&P CNX-500 closed higher by 10.89 points to 856.24 points as against the previous close of 845.35 points. The S&P CNX Defty gained by 10.55 points to 1003.70 points from the previous close of 993.15 points. The CNX Nifty Junior rose by 21 points to 2045.55 points from the previous close of 2024.55 points.

The CNX Midcap-200 ended higher by 14.06 points to 741.66 points from the previous close of 727.60 points.

Total turnover on the NSE reported during the day was Rs 24.73 billion.

Today, 784 securities advanced, 301 declined, 57 remained unchanged while 129 securities hit their price bands.

SBI topped the list of turnover by registering the highest business volume of Rs 2.84 billion, Reliance Rs 2.31 billion, ITC Rs 1.64 billion, Tisco Rs 1.57 billion, L&T Rs 1.55 billion, Telco Rs 1.40 billion, Satyam Computers Rs 1.35 billion and Pentafour Software Rs 1.34 billion.

Other actively traded counters were ACC, Tata Tea, Infosys Technology, Ranbaxy, Zee Telefilms, Sterlite, MTNL, Hindalco, BHEL, Silverline, Hindustan Lever, Grasim, NIIT, Colgate, Square D Software, Videocon International and Digital Equipment.

The top five S&P CNX Nifty gainers were Telco which closed at Rs 259.35 (Rs 240.10), Cipla Rs 1730.75 (Rs 1602.55), Grasim Rs 325.30 (Rs 301.20), Hindalco Rs 853.40 (Rs 790.15) and Novartis Rs 1022.75 (Rs 946.95).

The top five losers were NIIT Rs 2,044.95 (Rs 2,092.65), Hindustan Lever Rs 2,381.40 (Rs 2,427.70), L&T Rs 339.65 (Rs 346.25), ITC Rs 1,039.35 (Rs 1,059.45) and East India Hotels Rs 200 (Rs 203.45).

UNI

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