Sensex gains 56 pts

MUMBAI, MAR 31: Pivotals rallied further on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE today on fresh support extended by the domestic financial ins...

MUMBAI, MAR 31: Pivotals rallied further on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE today on fresh support extended by the domestic financial institutions pushing up the Sensex by another 56 points. IT companies stocks made further headway to close sharply higher for the second consecutive session. The closing rates showed widespread modest to handsome gains.

The BSE sensitive index rose further from the opening level of 3708.39 to touch the intra-day high of 3781.97 before closing at 3739.96 with a handsome gain of 56.47 points compared with the yesterday8217;s close of 3683.49. The BSE-100 index also gained by 30.01 points to 1651.37 from previous close of 1621.36.

Brokers said the sentiment got a boost following good buying support from operators as well as Indian financial institutions IFIs and foreign funds. Being the last session of the current financial year, IFIs and domestic mutual funds were making purchases of shares in sizeable quantity in a bid to lift the price of their units net asset value NAV atthe end of the year.

They were reportedly net buyers in key scrips like SBI, Larsen, Mahindra and Mahindra, Britannia, GACL, ACC, Nestle and some others. The FIIs have also made fresh purchases in select software scrips besides ITC, Hero Honda, Thomas Cook, Britannia, Wartsila and Indian Shaving and others.

In the specified group, 15 scrips including software scrips like Satyam Computer, Digital Equipment and Pentafour Software as well as over 100 scrips in B1 and B2 section hit the upper circuit filter after exhausting their daily limits.

Pentafour Software remained the most sought after scrip with the highest turnover of Rs 194.87 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 1493.21 crore. Pentafour Software soared by Rs 92.75 to Rs 1255 on fresh support. SBI firmed up by Rs 7.90 to Rs 213.40, ITC by Rs 11 to Rs 963, Larsen by Rs 15.30 to Rs 234, ACC by Rs 24.50 to Rs 1436.50, Hindustan Lever by Rs 18.75 to Rs 2264, Reliance by Rs 2.20 to Rs 130.40 and Tisco by Rs 2.40 to Rs 103.70.

On the NationalStock Exchange NSE, pivotals gained further ground as the uptrend continued on the first day of trading for the current account. The Samp;P CNX Nifty closed at 1078.05, up by 23.45 points from the previous close of 1054.60. The total turnover on the exchange was Rs 1,687.41 crore.