All-round buying pushes Sensex by 140 points

Bank stocks hogged the limelight. However, there was no big volatility unlike in the past several sessions. In a departure from the recent volatile trend, the market displayed strength throughout the session on the back of a surge in the foreign fund inflows.

The Sensex opened higher with a gap of 24 points at 5,810.21. After touching a low of 5,807.73 during early trades, the Sensex rose steadily throughout the session and crossed the 5,900-mark. Buying interest gained momentum in the last half an hour’s trade on the back of an optimistic forecast for GDP growth, lifting the Sensex to its day’s high of 5,935.68 towards the close of the trade. Eventually, the Sensex settled at 5,926.22 in the post-closing.

From the recent low of Rs 5,550.17 touched on February 3, the Sensex has recovered over 376 points on fresh buying. The benchmark index has been on a roller-coaster ride ever since it struck the historic intra-day peak of 6,249.60 points on January 9, 2004. FIIs stepped up buying on Thursday, pumping in a net Rs 232 crore, compared to the inflow of Rs 143.10 crore on Wednesday.

With this, cumulative FII inflow in calendar 2004 (till February 5) touched Rs 4,034.30 crore. The inflows are much higher than the Rs 1,393.90 crore registered in the same period last year. A section of the market feels that while uncertainty before the elections is inevitable, any major reversal in reforms in the post-election scenario is also unlikely.

While election dates are not fixed yet, according to estimates, polling could be spread over four to five phases between mid-April to early-May 2004. The market is likely to remain volatile in the interim period. Aluminium major Hindalco (up 7.15% to Rs 1,295.60) was the top gainer among Sensex stocks. From the recent low of Rs 1,140 touched on February 3, the Hindalco stock has risen 13.64% on bargain hunting.