Software shines, Sensex up 160 pts

MUMBAI, FEB 7: Stocks ended sharply higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE today on heavy buying by institutional investors and specula...

MUMBAI, FEB 7: Stocks ended sharply higher on the Bombay Stock Exchange BSE today on heavy buying by institutional investors and speculators at the start of new account pushing the bellwether Sensex up by 160 points. Software shares led the bull rally following a strong finish of American Depositary Receipts of Indian firms at the Nasdaq on Friday.

8220;The sharp upswing in the ADR price of Infosys Technologies and the Nasdaq composite index on the American market on Friday fuelled the rally,8221; said a broker. Sensex 30-share BSE sensitive index opened with a wide gap at 5431.55 and moved upwards to the day8217;s high of 5518.29 before closing at 5474.00 with a sizeable gain of 160.41 points compared to last week end close of 5313.59. The BSE-100 index also flared up by 59.75 points to 3181.05 from previous close of 3121.30.

The National Stock Exchange NSE also witnessed a bull run with the Samp;P CNX Nifty index registering a sharp increase of about 45 points at 1635.50 points.

Brokers said they wereunsure whether the gains would sustain as a pre-budget caution was likely to set in and budget will be presented on February 29. Data released by the market regulator SEBI showed foreign funds were net buyers of shares worth 53.2 million in the first three days of February. Foreign funds were seen buying index heavy-weights and software share like Infosys Tech, NIIT, MTNL, Sterlite and select scrips.

8220;Speculators had started building fresh positions after sustained buying from foreign funds in recent days,8221; said a dealer.

Software stocks were once again in the limelight with several shares scoring impressive gains as fresh funds which were coming into the markets had been utilised for purchases in this sector. However, the interest in economy stocks was lacking due to the pre-budget caution. Hints by the Union Finance Minister earlier last week about harsh measures in the forthcoming budget had created a feeling among operators that these would impact negatively companies other than the infotechsector.

Among the scrips that hit the upper price band at the close were Infosys Tech, Global Tele, Hoechst Marrion, Tata Tea, HCL Info, ITC, MTNL, Digital Equipment and ICICI. However, E Merck, SSI Ltd and Dr Reddy8217;s lab met with heavy selling pressure and were locked in lower circuit filter.

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According to brokers, the bullish trend in the domestic market is in line with the overseas markets. Other Asian markets also witnessed a firm trend following the Nasdaq record. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 33.16 points higher to 4244.14 points on last Friday, surpassing its earlier January 21 record of 4235. The losers at the BSE were Novartis, Hindalco, HPCL, Colgate, SBI and HLL. Other FMCG stocks like Cadbury, Colgate, Britannia, Pamp;G and Henkel SPIC lost considerably due to speculative selling pressure.