Sensex recovers 45 points

MUMBAI, DECEMBER 16: Pivotals led by infotech and bank shares rallied on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE today on fresh support coupled with short covering. Prices, however, moved widely on alternative bouts of buying and selling to finish higher. As many as ten bank scrips from both the specified and B1 groups were locked in the upper circuit filter following brisk buying on rumours that speculators had shown keen interest in this sector.

The 30-share BSE sensitive index Sensex opened firm at 4692.49 and moved between 4763.16 and 4692.49 before closing at 4710.49 with a net gain of 44.93 points compared to the previous closing of 4665.56. The BSE-100 index spurted by 46.21 points to 2409.48 from previous close of 2363.27.

Brokers said that cyclicals recovered smartly on buying from speculators and selective purchases by foreign funds as well as domestic institutions. Scrips like TELCO, TISCO, SBI, Reliance, HPCL, BHEL and index heavyweight like ITC attracted fresh buying. Rumours of tie-up betweenICICI bank and Centurion Bank helped revive the interest in bank sector.

Bank shares like Bank of Rajasthan, Bank of Madura, Federal Bank, Global Trust Bank, HDFC Bank, IDBI and Vysya Bank are some among the scrips that hit the upper circuit filter.