Sensex ends above 11,700 pts first time since May 17

MUMBAI: Firm global advices boosted the market sentiment on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the benchmark, Sensex, rallied by 87 points to end above the 11,700 level at 11,706.85 points for the first time since May 17.

Prices shot up by mid-session on heavy buying activity by both foreign and domestic funds in almost all segments.

However, select index-based scrips tended to move down toward end on fresh profit-selling and the index surrendered some of the midday gains.

The BSE 30-share index opened firm at 11,651.96 points as compared to Monday's close of 11,619.52 points and shot up further to a high of 11,739.77. Later, it moved down marginally and ended at 11,706.85, showing a smart gain of 87.33 points or 0.75 per cent over Monday's close.

Attributing the sudden heavy buying to firm global advices, brokers said in the Asian market Heng Sang shot up by 160.92 points, Nikkie by 127.97 points and Kospi by 16.72 points. Similarly, at the Wall Street, the Dow Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite Index also showed impressive gains.

Buying activity was mainly seen in consumer durable, PSU, IT and Tech segments. Some of the firm spots were Infosys Tech, BHEL, HDFC, Maruti, Wipro, ONGC, TCS, Satyam, L&T, Hero Honda, Cipla, ICICI Bank, ITC, RCOML and SBI.

On the other hand, RIL, Tata Steel, REL, Bharti, HLL, Bajaj, Dr Reddy, Tata Motors, Grasim and ACC remained weak.