Sensex scales all-time high of 4678 points

MUMBAI, JULY 13: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index - popularly called Sensex and the benchmark for share price movements in...

MUMBAI, JULY 13: The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) sensitive index – popularly called Sensex and the benchmark for share price movements in the country – created history by vaulting to its all-time high level of 4678.28 on Tuesday. The previous all-time high was 4643.31 recorded on September 12, 1994.

After the stunning 223-point rally on Monday, the early euphoria lifted the Sensex past the all-time peak hitting the historic high of 4678.28 within seconds after resumption of trading on Tuesday. However, it later faced resistance and dipped to 4588.68 before closing at 4615.20 still with a modest gain of 29.57 points as compared to the yesterday’s close of 4585.63.

Market circles said buoyed by the withdrawal of Pakistani intruders from Kargil, foreign funds, local institutions and local operators continued their buying spree pushing the Sensex further up. The official announcement of withdrawal which was made by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif last night in a telecast in Pakistan further strengthenedthe confidence of marketmen, leading stock brokers said.

Another reason for the bull run is the fact that the market was in an oversold position in the last several weeks following the Indo-Pak border conflict. The short positions, according to market sources, are yet to be squared off which could trigger a fresh rally before these scrips settle at lower levels.

Further, several scrips like SBI and Larsen & Toubro are in the no-delivery period. This means registers of these companies – book closure – will be closed for a month for payment of dividend and taking record of shareholders. As no shares will be transferred by the company during the no-delivery period, traders get almost a month for speculation.

Brokers attributed the late selling to technical considerations of the market and the reported shift of activity by players to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) which offered comparatively cheaper quotes in view of end of the ongoing weekly account. FIIs who made purchases in the early stages, laterturned net sellers with operators joining the bandwagon to transfer their positions from one exchange to another.

In the specified group, nine cyclical stocks hit the upper circuit breaker while four others hit the lower price band after exhausting the daily limit. Of the 148 traded specified scrips, 57 showed sharp to moderate gains while 91 registered substantial falls. Reliance remained the top traded share with the highest turnover of Rs 338.79 crore of the total volume of Rs 2603.46 crore. RIL firmed up by Rs 3 to Rs 192, Rs 16.70 to Rs 296, MTNL by Rs 12 to Rs 209.50 and Hindustan Lever by Rs 40 to Rs 2440. However, Pentafour Software droped by Rs 37.20 to Rs 1228.10, Satyam Computer by Rs Rs 45 to Rs 1189, ITC by Rs 26 to Rs 1048, SBI by Rs 8.30 to Rs 283.20 and Tisco by Rs 8.90 to Rs 164.

Story continues below this ad

“With the economy showing revival and the companies raising prices, the next turning point in the markets will come near the elections. There will be volatility but the broad trend will be further determined bya stable government,” said a fund manager. “The markets have shown a lot of strength with economic revival and corporates consolidating. The trend from here is northwards,” said another investment banker.