Sensex spurts by 106 pts

MUMBAI, APRIL 15: The stock markets on Wednesday staged a spectacular rally with bulls getting into action. The BSE sensitive index Sensex...

MUMBAI, APRIL 15: The stock markets on Wednesday staged a spectacular rally with bulls getting into action. The BSE sensitive index Sensex shot up by 106.57 points as foreign and local players bought shares across the board.

What boosted the market morale was the the new Export-Import Policy and the Reserve Bank8217;s decision to slash yield-to maturity of government securities. 8220;Foreign institutional investors FIIs were active buyers today,8221; market circles said, adding that rumours about takeovers and mergers further activated the bulls.

Sensex breached the 4,200 mark to touch an intra-day8217;s high of 4,213.07 points. However, profit-booking towards the last phase of the session pulled down the index to 4,192.50 registering a net gain of 106.57 points. The first day of the trading cycle saw the Nifty index surge by over 46.85 points to close at 1,206.30 points on the National Stock Exchange.

The discrepancy between the BSE8217;s and NSE8217;s turnover further narrowed down to a meagre Rs 92 crore with NSE8217;sturnover falling to touch a low of Rs 1,474.56 crore. 8220;There has been a genuine buying interest in many of the counters for the last few days. This only indicates that the market has been driven more on a investor interest than speculative interest,8221; said a dealer of Dalal amp; Broacha.

8220;Many of the B2 stocks have inheritant value and are quoting below their intrinsic value which makes it more attractive for genuine investors,8221; said another broker. The rally was fuelled by rumours related to the performance of the company or mergers, acquisitions and takeovers. 8220; A section of market operators created an artificial upbeat mood in the market through rumours and gossips and later unload to the gullible investors,8221; said an NSE dealer.

Bank shares were in great demand as the cut in YTM will boost the profits of banks. Similarly, marketmen were bullish about the new Exim Policy which put 340 more items under the Open General Licence OGL and liberalised many export-import norms. The market was also agogwith rumours that the fertiliser sector would receive special incentives in the union budget.

Rumours about a likely bonus issue saw the Marico stock flare up by over 9.9 per cent on both the bourses. It closed at Rs 320.10 on NSE and Rs 329 on the BSE.

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SBI, opened with a gap of over 2 per cent to trade in the band of Rs 296.50 and Rs 303.70 to finally close at Rs 302.50 registering a net gain of 2.62 per cent on the BSE.

The other bank stocks which hit the upper end of their price bands were Dena Bank, Federal Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Madura, Global Trust Bank, IndusInd Bank and Karur Vysya Bank. Stocks of financial institutions like ICICI and IFCI witnessed fresh buying interest.

NSE made a record with 724 stocks attracting the upper end of their price bands on the exchange following continous bouts of purchases.