Sensex crosses 3,700 mark

There seems to be no looking back for Dalal Street bulls now. Foreign funds and local operators continued their buying spree on Friday, send...

There seems to be no looking back for Dalal Street bulls now. Foreign funds and local operators continued their buying spree on Friday, sending the benchmark Sensex above the 3,700 level.

Huge gains in old economy and heavyweight stocks lifted the Sensex by 58.39 points, or 1.59 per cent, to its 26-month closing high of 3,726.46. The NSE S&P CNX Nifty Index gained 23.30 points to close at 1,162.75.

With this gain, Sensex has recovered last week’s losses and gained nearly 148 points in the last two days. Market capitalisation — the total market value of all listed shares — shot up by Rs 26,770 crore to Rs 703,176 crore in the last two trading sessions.

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‘‘Gains were seen in new as well as old economy stocks. Heavyweights like State Bank of India, Hindustan Lever and Reliance Industries also accounted for the gains in the Sensex. Bank stocks were in the limelight on hopes that the holding of foreign institutional investors (FIIs) might be de-linked from the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in banks. Pharma stocks advanced on selective buying support following improved JQ 2003 results. Stock-specific action continued on the side counters,’’ said a stock dealer. With the market bouncing back, manipulators also returned to their favourite game: Rigging up some of the shares. ‘‘Several second rung stocks also shot up as riggers jacked up their prices to unload these stocks later,’’ market sources said.

Simultaneously, hedge funds also turned aggressive buyers once again. Hedge funds had invested over $800 million in Indian stocks in the last seven months.