Sensex races past 6,000 mark

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 11: It came sooner than expected. Unbridled stock market bulls continued their frenzy for the fifth consecutive day takin...

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 11: It came sooner than expected. Unbridled stock market bulls continued their frenzy for the fifth consecutive day taking the fancied Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex past the 6,000-point barrier on Friday. Continuing the bull rally kicked off on Monday, local punters and foreign institutional investors took the bellwether Sensex up by another 2.5 per cent, or 144 points, in a buying euphoria powered by information technology stocks like Infosys Technologies.

Surprising even punters, Sensex briefly topped the 6,000 mark at 2.54 pm before falling back on profit-taking by local funds and speculators to finish at 5,933.56 with a gain of 144 points. The index has gone up 11.66 per cent, or 620 points, in five pulsating trading sessions. The 50-share National Stock Exchange NSE Nifty index gained by 2.55 per cent or 43.60 points higher at a record 1,754.80.

Infosys Technologies, which has the highest weightage of 20 per cent in the BSE index, led the market, surging 8.0 per cent or Rs 737.95 toa record Rs 9,962.95. 8220;This follows the stunning 18.50 per cent rise in its American Depositary Receipts ADRs by 82-1/2 to 528 on the Nasdaq exchange of the US on Thursday, topping the list of gainers on the technology-rich exchange,8221; said an analyst of a foreign brokerage.

Infosys had risen by a whopping Rs 2,118 in the last five days. Speculation has been swirling in the stock markets that Infosys was close to announcing an acquisition but the firm said there were no new corporate developments and it was not aware of the reasons behind the stock surge. However, Infosys, which led the bull rally in the last one week, announced that it was not aware of the reasons behind the recent trading activity in the company8217;s American Depository Shares ADS. quot;There are no new corporate development outside of the company8217;s normal business activities that may impact trading,quot; said N R Narayana Murthy, chairman amp; chief executive officer.

ITC Ltd jumped eight per cent to Rs 968.60 for the third straight day,propelled by its foray into E-commerce through an alliance with Britain8217;s Infobank International Holdings Plc. Among other major gainers were Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd, electricity firm BSES Ltd and automobile maker Mahindra amp; Mahindra Ltd, all of which were up almost eight per cent.

Infotech stocks got a boost from the US Nasdaq 0market8217;s 2.81 per cent overnight gain to another record high close. The bullish trend in other Asian markets like Hong Kong also boosted the sentiment. 8220;IT stocks were hot and everything else was not on confusion about the future of interest rates,8221; said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist of Edward D Jones. 8220;Indian markets are now closely following the trend on Nasdaq,8221; said a fund manager.

FIIs and speculators focussed on software, telecom and FMCG sectors, and offloaded economy stocks. As a result, Reliance Industries was down Rs 6.75 to Rs 357.50, Bajaj Auto by Rs 10.5 to Rs 350, Grasim Industries by Rs 19 to Rs 381 and Novartis India Rs 90.6 to Rs1,043.10.

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Speculators accumulated infotech stocks as also shares of media and telecom majors in line with sustained and heavy net purchases by foreign funds which brought in funds to the tune of Rs 1000 crore in the current month. Marketmen attributed the selling pressure that trimmed the Sensex gain by over 70 points at the fag end to squaring up by speculators in view of the last day of the current settlement.