Sensex on a roll, hits six-month high of 11,329

MUMBAI: The market sustained its weekly gaining streak for the seventh straight week as the benchmark Sensex settled at a six-month high of 11,329.05 at the weekend on several positive developments amid on-going Parliamentary elections in the country.

Passing through a bearish mode in the initial three days, the signs of improvement in economy and a fresh rate cut by Reserve Bank on April 21 with inflation ruling virtually at zero level boosted the market sentiment after midweek.

In the week to April 25, the Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer bounced from its weekly low of 10,715.66 and ended with a net gain of 305.96 points, or 2.78 per cent, over its last weekend's close.

Similarly, the National Stock Exchange 50-share Nifty also jumped by 96.35 points, or 2.85 per cent, to end the week at 3,480.75 from its last close. Brokers said Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) remained the net buyers in the week and are expected to step up their activity in the coming days as the April series of derivatives expires on Thursday.

They said bull operators are likely to cover their shorts or rollover Nifty positions in the next series in the light of possibility of further reduction in interest rates as the inflation was at 0.26 per cent for the week ended April 11, 2009.

A forecast by the Meteorological Department of a near normal monsoon as well as better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings announced by some key corporates also provided fillip to the market sentiment.

India's third-largest software services exporter Wipro, which announced results during the week, registered a sharp rise of 13.71 per cent over the week. Reliance Infra, too, gained 12.28 per cent after the company came out with quarterly results.

The trading volume improved significantly during the week. The total weekly business volume was nearly Rs 25,000 crore on the BSE while on the NSE, it grew to Rs 71,630 crore.

Among the sectoral indices, the BSE-Metal shot up by 374.11 points or 5.51 per cent, the BSE-Tech by 109.52 points or 5.41 per cent, the BSE-Realty by 90.08 or 4.16 per cent and the BSE-IT by 94.66 points or 3.85 per cent.

The BSE-100 index rose by 175.74 points or 3.12 per cent and the BSE-500 index firmed up by 123.64 points or 3.06 per cent. The Dollex-30 and Dollex-200 indices were also quoted higher at 1,865.07 and 448.74 respectively as against the last weekend's le vel of 1,816.16 and 435.51.

The S&P CNX Defty shot up by 67.95 points to 2,419.70 and the CNX Nifty Junior also rose by 268.40 points to 5,386.40. - PTI link...