By IANS
Mumbai : Taking barely a week to jump 1,000 points, a key Indian share market index crossed the 17,000-point level for the first time Wednesday, taking cues from global developments and buying interest among foreign funds.
Amid buying interest in energy, banking and tech stocks, the 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) shot up to 17,073.987 points during intra-day trading – the highest ever level for the index.
But subsequent volatility and resistance at higher levels pulled the Sensex down to the day’s close of 16,921.39 points to register a gain of 21.85 points, or 0.13 percent, over the previous day’s close at 16,899.54 points.
It took the key index just five sessions to jump 1,000 points after breaching the 16,000-point milestone last Wednesday. Previously, it took 53 sessions for the Sensex to move from 15,000 to 16,000 and 147 days from 14,000 t0 15,000.
“The Reserve Bank of India’s announcement yesterday that domestic mutual funds can now invest up to $5 million overseas, against $4 million earlier, lifted the mood today,” said an analyst with a leading brokerage here.
He was referring to the decision conveyed after trading hours Tuesday where the central bank also allowed Indian companies to invest up to 400 percent of their net worth in joint ventures and subsidiaries abroad without prior approval.
“This should help in easing the pressures on the Indian rupee and may even provide some cushion to the central bank to ease interest rates. The markets have reacted positively to the development,” the analyst added.
The Sensex opened strong Wednesday at 16,969.45 points and soon breached the 17,000-point mark. But when trading resumed after the noon break on account of communications disruptions due to solar activity, the index fell to Tuesday’s level.
Thereafter, the index rose to the day’s high – also the highest ever for the index – before profit taking pulled it down to 16,921.31 points. There was a gap of 174 points between Wednesday’s high and Tuesday’s close.
Between Sep 25 and Oct 9, there will be no trading on the Bombay Stock Exchange between 11.25 a.m. and 12.10 p.m. because its communications system via satellite is expected to face disruptions due to heavy solar activity.
Accordingly, the closing time has been extended to 4.15 p.m.
Data with the exchange showed that there were more indices among the 30 shares of the Sensex that closed in the red (16) than those that ended with gains.
Among the Sensex shares, Satyam led the gainers, up 4.81 percent at Rs.431.30, followed by Wipro, up 4.33 percent at Rs.454.60, Tata Consultancy, up 3.88 percent at Rs.1,041 and Housing Development Finance Corp, up 3.45 percent at Rs.2,476.90.
Reliance Energy led the losers, down 5.63 percent at Rs.1,026.20, followed by Reliance Industries, down 3.24 percent at Rs.2,321.95, Maruti Udyog, down 2.92 percent at Rs.962.25, and National Thermal Power Corp, down 1.97 percent at Rs.191.50.