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Journalism of Courage
MUMBAI, APR 28: Equities staged a smart rally after initial weakness on the stock market today on heavy short coverings and support at the lower level by the Indian institutions and foreign institutional investors (FIIs).
Initially, the sentiment was weak as the Sensex broke the 3200-psychological level on the down side due to sustained selling by operators and institutional investors in some high priced pharma and software counters. Later, domestic institutions and mutual funds renewed their purchases at lower levels in the last hour which led to a smart recovery at the close.
However, nervousness still prevailed due to the political situation and speculators restricted their activity awaiting further developments. The BSE Sensitive index opened slightly lower at 3239.11, dropped to the day’s low of 3183.47 on bear hammerings and remained direction less till mid-session. However, purchases made at the fag end of the session by institutions lifted the Sensex to touch the intra-day high of 3285.39 beforeclosing in positive territory at 3272.71 as against previous close of 3245.27 registering a net gain of 27.44 points or 0.85 per cent. The BSE-100 index also firmed up by 13.09 points to 1421.89 from last close of 1408.80.
Pentafour Software flared up on announcement of a 74 per cent surge in net profits and recommendation of 1:1 bonus issue to its shareholders. Refinery stocks were in limelight being cornered at a throw away price by Indian mutual funds on good future outlook.
Meanwhile on the National Stock Exchange, share prices recovered smartly at the fag end of the trading session on speculative buying and shortcovering by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and domestic funds. Reflecting the trend, the S&P CNX Nifty opened at 928.85 and dipped to a low of 916.00 before staging a recovery to close at 943.50, up by 12.15 points from the previous close of 931.35. CNX Nifty junior ended with a gain of 29.55 points at 1713.05 from the last close of 1683.50. The total turnover was Rs 1494.72crore.
