Sensex rises for 4th day, up 19 pts as oil stocks soar

President (PCG Research), Kotak Securities.

Traders said investor confidence was intact even as global markets remained under pressure after senior Federal Reserve officials reportedly expressed concerns over expansion of the bond buying plan.

Besides weak global trend, steep fall in base metal prices in the overseas markets put pressure on the market to some extent, traders said.

Globally, Asian stocks ended mixed. Key indices in China and Singapore closed with minor gains while those from Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan closed lower. The Japanese index soared 2.8 per cent.

European stocks were quoting slightly weak in their afternoon trading. The CAC was down by 0.18 per cent, the DAX by 0.09 per cent and the FTSE by 0.03 per cent.

Commenting on Indian markets, Kishor P Ostwal, CMD, CNI Research Ltd. said, "Market opened weak but recovered later in the day to close nearly flat."

India's services sector expanded further in December - registering the fastest pace of growth in three months - driven by a sharp rise in new business orders, an HSBC survey today said. This data helped support sentiments, traders said.

In all, 16 out of 30 Sensex-based counters closed with gains while 13 others finished with losses. Tata Power held stable.

GAIL India was the top gainer with a rise of 1.90 per cent, followed by ONGC (1.79 pc), BHEL (1.76 pc), TCS (1.50 pc), Wipro (1.47 pc), ICICI Bank (0.87 pc), SBI (0.56 pc) and Infosys (0.51 pc).

However, Tata Steel declined by 1.91 per

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