Sensex recovers by 69 pts

MUMBAI, AUG 20: Pivotals staged a partial recovery on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today following fresh buying support by foreign insti...

MUMBAI, AUG 20: Pivotals staged a partial recovery on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) today following fresh buying support by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) coupled with short covering by local operators. FIIs made purchases in select counters resulting in a recovery of 69.26 points in the sensex.

The BSE sensitive index opened at 4166.79 and moved up to the day’s high of 4238.09, declined below the mark of 4200 to touch the day’s low of 4144.47 and finally recovered smartly to close at 4234.63 with a net gain of gain of 69.26 points compared to the previous level of 4165.37. Similarly, the BSE-100 index also recovered by 27.72 points to 1846.64 against the previous close of 1818.92.

Brokers said the sentiment turned for better mainly on emergence of buying support from local operators as well as moderate purchases by foreign funds. Bull operators were seen covering their short positions in a number of pivotals. FIIs made purchases in blue chip shares like Hindustan Lever, Tata Tea, Castrol and few others.

Story continues below this ad

The smart recovery in heavy-weighted index scrips like MTNL, Hindustan Lever, Reliance, SBI and Tata Steel contributed largely to the rise in the sensex. Bajaj Auto, ITC, Larsen, Colgate, HPCL, BPCL, Pond’s and several other side stocks scored handsome gains on renewed buying interest.The volume of business was very low at Rs.702.06 crore compared to the previous level of Rs 912.50 crore. Reliance remained the most active scrip with a turnover of Rs 138.78 crore followed by Tata Tea (Rs 120.35 crore), ITC (Rs 108.58 crore), SBI (Rs 72.19 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 35.84 crore). Reliance recovered by Rs 2 to Rs 365, Tata Tea spurted by Rs 22.75 to Rs 469.50, Hindustan Lever by Rs 85 to Rs 1441.75, ITC by Rs 4 to Rs 544, SBI by Rs 2.75 to Rs 320.50 and Tata Steel by Rs 1.50 to Rs 205.25.

On the National Stock Exchange (NSE), share prices recovered on the first day of the current settlement on revival of buying by operators and foreign funds. The NSE-50 index closed at 1198.20, showing a good recovery of 17.50. The Midcap index closed at 1328.30 showing a gain of 16.45 points. The market showed a lower turnover of Rs 1,444.86 crore.