Sensex ends flat on Samvat 2063, intra-day gains over 128 pts

Updated at 7.55 pm

MUMBAI: Keeping the trend for the ninth consecutive year, the stock markets on Saturday stepped in Samvat 2063 with a strong rally as investors made token purchases on the auspicious day of Muhurat trading.

The initial euphoria, however, calmed down in latter part of one hour and 15 minutes trading session as retailers booked profits at higher levels.

After a sharp correction from the all-time high 12,994.45 touched on Tuesday, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 30-share sensitive index (sensex) bounced by 27.42 points or 0.22 per cent to end at 12,736.82 from Friday's close of 12,709.40.

In opening trades, the sensex surged by 127.88 points to touch a high of 12,837.28.

The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty, however, ended flat at 3,677.00 from previous close of 3,676.85. It had risen by 31.55 points to a high of 3,708.40 during trading.

The bourses witnessed across-the-board buying in blue chip as well as small-cap and mid-cap stocks as investors turned jubilant over the country's robust economic growth this fiscal and expectations of impressive earning season.

The net profits of the 284 companies and banks that have released their financial figures for second quarter, showed a rise of over 31 per cent.

Sustained FII inflows also raised investors' confidence. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) reported net purchases of Rs 2,154 crore in cash in the first four days of the week.

The market had been corrected downwards in four sessions after nearing 13K mark on October 17.

The market breadth was strong with 1,832 counters showing gains while only 490 losers in total 2,370 traded shares.

The trading volume was Rs 1116,22 crore. Tech Mahindra remained the top traded scrip with highest turnover of Rs 171.09 crore followed by Tata Steel (Rs 45.22 crore), RIL (Rs 45.21 crore), Hanung Toys (Rs 41.48 crore) and Atlanta (Rs 25.73 crore).

The broad-based BSE-100 Index firmed up by 20.18 points to 6,477.07 from previous close of 6,456.89.

The BSE-200 Index and the Dollex-200 were quoted up at 1,533.78 and 563.48 at close compared to previous close of 1,527.34 and 560.59 respectively. The BSE-500 Index rose by 25.32 points to 4,880.52 from last close of 4,855.20 and the Dollex-30 ended higher at 2,307.48 from 2,300.35.

Bajaj Auto advanced by 20.20 to 2761.75, BHEL by 13.40 to 2434.10, Grasim by 15.25 to 2628.65, ITC by 2.65 to 188.60, Maruti Udyog by 3.35 to 940.55, Tata Steel by 8.25 to 516.10, Bharti Airtel by 1.90 to 498.60, GACL by 1.20 to 122.65, Hero Honda by 1.75 to 754.50, Infosys Tech by 1.25 to 2074.20, REL by 1.40 to 461.20, Satyam Computer by 1.85 to 430.20 and TCS Ltd by 3.10 to 1092.05.

However, Dr Reddy's Lab eased by 3.15 to 721.75, ICICI Bank by 3.85 to 737.85, Reliance Comm by 1.40 to 367.90, SBI by a rupee by 1040.20, Wipro by 1.95 to 554.25, Tata Motors by 5.75 to 885.10, ACC by 3.25 to 974.60, HDFc by 2.10 to 1447.50, L&T by 3.85 to 1275.85 and Ranbaxy by 2.75 to 415.15.