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Sensex surges 523 pts on heavy buying

Agencies

Posted: 2008-07-18 17:04:35+05:30 IST
Updated: Jul 18, 2008 at 1700 hrs IST

Continuing its upward march, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday rose by 523 points on heavy buying supported by cooling crude prices and lower than expected inflation figures released by the government on Thursday.

The 30-share BSE index, which had gained 536 points on Thursday, shot up by another 523.55 points to close at 13,635.40 points, after touching the high of 13,684.27 on brisk buying in heavy-weight stocks led by bank, realty and capital goods sectors.

A major push to the upsurge was extended by banking sector by gaining the most 461.29 points at 6,188.89, followed by capital goods sector by 384.50 points at 11,146.51.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange's index Nifty also soared to cross 4,000 level and settled at 4,092.25 points, a gain of 145.05 points over the previous close. It touched the day's high of 4,110.55 and a low of 3926.30 points.

Marketmen said a fall in crude oil prices partly reduced chances of further hike in inflation and boosted demand for investment in stocks of select categories.

Crude oil prices in global markets have fallen by over USD 16 to below USD 130 a barrel level in the last three days.

They said inflation, which rose marginally to 11.91 per cent for the week ended July 5, was below the market expectations of over 12 per cent.

ICICI Bank, the country's largest private lender, gained the most in almost six months. It settled at Rs 617.60, a gain of Rs 66.40, or 12.05 per cent, over the previous close. HDFC Bank rose the most in eight months to close at Rs 1,033.55, up Rs 75.45, or 7.87 per cent.

Brokers said the BSE's banking index has dropped 46 per cent in 2008, against the Sensex's 34 per cent decline.

They said the Bankex Index's 14-day relative strength index, which measures how rapidly prices rise or fall, dropped to 29 on July 16. A level below 30 suggests to investors a signal to buy.

Oil and gas index rose by 379.96 points to 9,232.04, PSU index by 254.48 points to 6,121.15, realty index by 242.22 points to 4,670.24, power index by 79.04 points to 2,381.81, FMCG index by 54.10 points to 1,196.04, auto index 65.15 points to 3,600.93, consumer durable by 23.14 points to 3,463.74, tech index by 17.04 points at 2,881.84 and healthcare index by 14.57 points to 3,990.85 points.

With the buying activity spilling over a wide-front, midcap index strengthened by 84.05 points to 5,239.39 and smallcap index gained 68.77 points to end at 6,455.89.

However, information technology sector index fell by 94.55 points to 3,580.65 and metal index by 28.91 points to 11,668.39.

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