Sensex gains 105 points

“The announcement on buy-back of shares injected fresh enthusiasm in the market and most of the operators covered their short-positions. Foreign funds, however, kept away from the market,” said a broker. The domestic institutions and some mutual funds picked up small lots of shares. About 40 scrips from the A group hit the circuit-breaker and trading wasstopped.

ITC led the market with the highest turnover of Rs 286.01 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 1354.38 crore. ITC gained Rs 13.25 to Rs 721.25, SBI Rs 8.90 at Rs 164.90, Reliance Rs 8.50 at Rs 115.50, TISCO Rs 5.80 at Rs 78.80, Satyam Computer Rs 33.50 at Rs 595, Pentafour Software Rs 40.25 at Rs 678.75 and Zee Telefilms Rs 23.25 at Rs 23.25 on speculative support.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE) buoyant conditions prevailed on heavy buying by operators. The market started on a steady note but later on heavy buying activity, prices of pivotals shot up to end with handsome gains. The S&P CNX Nifty index shot up by 27.90 to close at 845.25 from the last close of 817.35. The total turnover was Rs 1,544.08 crore. The exchange witnessed a large number of 871 scrips advance with only 128 scrips decline and 55 scrips remained unchanged. 183 securities had hit their price bands.