Sensex at new peak as RIL leads rally for second day

Updated at 5.20pm

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries continued to positively influence the stock market for the second day in a row, with the benchmark index on Thursday rising by 58.08 points to settle at a new peak of 13,091.12.

Shares of RIL, which saw brisk buying activity on reports that it has upgraded gas reserves estimates in the KG-D6 block and doubled gas production rate, touched the Rs 1,300 mark during the session before ending at a new high of Rs 1,283.60, a rise of Rs 19.40.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex also touched a new trading high of 13,137.74, before profit taking restricted the gains to 0.45 per cent over Wednesday's close of 10,033.04.

The Sensex has gained 129.42 points or one per cent in two days despite any major trigger in the market.

The National Stock Exchange's (NSE) S&P CNX Nifty also jumped by 24.15 points or 0.64 per cent to 3,791.20 from previous close of 3,767.05.

Brokers attributed the price rally to sustained inflows from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), which reportedly were net buyers in a number of shares at the current levels.

Asian markets were mixed at close. Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended up by 261.13 points and Korea's Kopsi by 9.38 points while Japan's Nikkei eased by 25.24 points and Singapore's Straight Times by 6.80 points.

Major contributors to the surge in Sensex were RIL, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel, L&T, ONGC, Maruti Udyog, Grasim and HDFC.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said there were no signs of overheating in the economy, while justifying the Reserve Bank's decision to hike repo rate by 0.25 per cent as "well-intended."

Sharp gains in ONGC and RIL helped the oil & gas index to zoom by 114.02 points or 1.86 per cent to 6,252.19.

The market breadth was slightly negative. 1,295 counters registered losses while 1,224 other finished with gains.

The trading volume was low at Rs 3,994.67 crore compared to Rs 4,113.57 crore yesterday. RIL remained the top traded scrip with highest turnover of Rs 207.21 crore followed by India Bulls (Rs 200.65 crore), Gayatri Projects (Rs 80.60 crore), Ansal Infras (Rs 80.46 crore) and Tata Motors (Rs 78.11 crore).

The broad-based BSE-100 Index advanced by another 32.09 points to 6,671.23 from previous close of 6,639.14.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted smartly up at 1,577.65 and 585.35 at close compared to previous close of 1,569.10 and 582.27 respectively. The BSE-500 index rose by 26.90 points to 5,014.10 from last close of 4,987.20 and the Dollex-30 ended higher at 2,395.18 from 2,384.96.

Besides RIL, ONGC spurted by 34.95 to 838.95, SBI by 7.95 to 1124, Bajaj Auto by 38.60 to 2780.85, Dr Reddy's Lab by 9.50 to 760.85, Grasim by 13.60 to 2781.15, HDFC Bank by 14.65 to 1008.60, ICICI Bank by 2.30 to 778.20, Reliance Com by 2.95 to 391.60, Bharti Airtel by 7.60 to 548.80, HDFC by 13.95 to 1442.05, Hero Honda by 1.15 to 766.10, L&T by 17.90 to 1339 and Ranbaxy Lab by 5.60 to 403.50.

However, Infosys Tech fell by 18.90 to 2084.90, Satyam Computer by 7.80 to 427.10, TCS Ltd by 2.15 to 1080.10, REL by 1.75 to 478.10, Tata Steel by 2.75 to 487.20, Wipro by 3.50 to 533.70, BHEL by 2.60 to 2456.35, ITC by 2.00 to 188.60 and Hindalco by 1.60 to 189.15.