New Delhi, Jan 25 (IANS) With the US announcing a $150 million package to stem a financial crisis, Indian equities ended on a strong note Friday in tandem with the global developments, as investors returned to the ring with firm buy orders.
The sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) opened Friday at 17,504 points – 282.26 points above the previous day’s close at 17,221.74 points – and soon shot up to a high of 17,880.64 points.
At close, the barometer index was ruling at 18,361.66 points, with a gain of an impressive 1,139.92 points, or 6.62 percent, over Thursday’s close, with all the 30 shares that go into the Sensex basket ending in the positive territory.
The overall breadth of the market was distinctly positive with as many as 202 shares in the ‘A’ group – the most actively traded scrips after those in the Sensex basket – ending in the positive territory, against 15 that declined.
The authorities at the Mumbai exchange, as well as the National Stock Exchange, India’s two main exchanges, had suspended settlements of cash and derivatives trades till Monday because of a strike by banking employees.
Thursday, too, had seen a strong opening, but as trading came to a halt, the key index lost ground and closed at 17,221.74 points with a loss of 372.33 points, or 2.12 percent, over the previous day’s close, data with the exchange showed.
Due to the major fall registered Monday and Tuesday, the Sensex was still down 652.04 points, or 3.43, points over the previous Friday’s close at 19,013.70 points, the data showed.
According to analysts, the positive development in Indian markets Friday was on account of a pact between the leaders of the US House of Representatives and the George W. Bush administration on a $150 billion package to avoid a recession.
“The entire crisis in recent weeks was caused by the uncertain conditions in the US. So the mood had to turn positive after the US Federal Reserve and the Bush administration taking steps to avert further set backs,” said an analyst with a leading brokerage in Mumbai.
The package included payments to some 115 million Americans to help overcome the mortgage crisis and new tax breaks for both large and small companies in a bid to step up investments.
In Indian bourses, realty stocks led the gainers, with a specific index for the counter up 10.41 percent, followed by 9.73 percent for metals, 7.53 percent for banking and 6.67 percent for oil and gas.
In fact, all sector-specific indices of the BSE ended on a positive note, with a 4.73-percent gain for the index for fast-moving consumer goods being the least, followed by 5.59 percent for healthcare and 5.9 percent for consumer goods.
Looking at individual stocks among the 30 Sensex shares, Hindustan Aluminium led the gainers, up 14.01 percent, followed by Reliance Energy, up 11.81 percent, ICICI Bank, up 11.16 percent and Larsen and Toubro, up 9.95 percent.
The other major gainers included NTPC Ltd, up 9.11 percent, Bajaj Auto, up 9.02 percent, Mahindra and Mahindra, up 7.76 percent, Tata Motors, up 7.7 percent and Oil and Natural Gas Corp, up 7.54 percent.