Sensex rise continues

Brokers said operators, who were engaged in buying and selling, had focussed their attention on pharma shares while winding up positions in line with the squaring up on the NSE. Scrips led of FMCGs such as Reckitt, Procter amp; Gamble, Hindustan Lever and others rose sharply on good buying support from foreign funds. Other shares like Satyam, SBI, BHEL, ITC and MTNL also registered an handsome gains

FIIs too had shifted their focus to stocks of public sector undertakings PSUs and reportedly picked up shares of HPCL, BPCL and Cochin Refineries. Select infotech like Satyam, Infosys, Digital equipment gained smartly while pharma shares like Glaxo, Novartis, Pfizer, IPCA, E Merck and German Remedies continued their upward march. Others like ACC, ITC, Global Tele, BPCL and Colgate also posted handsome gains.

On the NSE, pivotals gained marginally on buying support by bull operators and financial institutions on the last day of the current settlement Reflecting the positive sentiment, the Samp;P CNX Nifty index improved by 6.25 points to 1078.35 from 1072.10 of the previous day. The total turnover was Rs 2952.24 crore. About 467 securities advanced, 666 declined and 93 remained unchanged. 95 securities have hit their price bands today.