Sensex up 22 pts after huge volatility, profit-booking

Our Markets Bureau

Mumbai, Dec 6: The bourses pared initial gains as the speculators and institutional investors resorted to profit bookings amidst huge trading turnover leading huge volatility which forced the BSE benchmark to shed 95 points from the day’s high. However, the bourses managed to close in the black.

The smart rally in Infosys Technologies ensured that the index closed in positive territory at 3431.57, a modest rise of 21.93 points, while S&P CNX Nifty was up 6 points.

The trading volume at BSE and NSE reached a new high with the combined turnover crossing Rs 5,000-crore mark. The turnover of BSE for the first time crossed the Rs 2,000-crore mark in the last nine months and shot up to Rs 2,474.59 crore and was also sharply higher than Rs 1,796.98 crore on Wednesday. The total turnover of BSE was at Rs 2,464.61 crore on March 13, 2001. According to a dealer with the foreign brokerage, UTI was said to be the major seller in the market at higher levels. With the market rising very rapidly and witnessing huge volatility, the mutual fund behemoth resorted to basket selling across the board in almost all the Sensex stocks including ITC, RIL, Satyam and Infosys Technologies.

Infosys remained the forerunner following heavy buying by foreign funds. It touched the 10 per cent upper circuit band during early trading and helped the benchmark to briefly breach the crucial 3500-level, said a dealer.

Sensex opened on a very bullish note as Nasdaq Composite index gained by 83.74 points last night and crossed the 2000-mark after a long period. The sharp jump in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which also spurted by 220.45 points, crossing the psychological 10,000-level for the first time since September 5, aided the sentiments at the local bourses. The bullish mood was further aided by a stronger start in South-east Asian stock markets.

The BSE-30 Sensex opened firm at 3440.56 and rallied sharply to a peak of 3500.20, but succumbed to profit-taking and slumped to a low of 3414.43, before settling at the close to 3431.57, higher from previous close of 3409.64. The market also witnessed some selling by the operators in the form of profit booking.