Sensex ends with marginal gain

Sensex managed to end with marginal gains after witnessing high volatility throughout the day’s trading session.

It rose 11.35 points, at 13,937.65. It had opened firm at 13,951.09, and surged to an all-time high of 14,035.30. Its intra-day low was at 13,847.67. It witnessed high volatility, oscillating 187.63 points between the day’s low and high.

Sensex’ previous all-time high was 14,028.47, touched on Tuesday (5 December).

The S&P CNX Nifty was up marginally by 0.20 points to 4015.95

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 4545.28 crore as compared to Rs 4779 crore on Tuesday (5 December)

The market-breadth was extremely weak on BSE, with close to 1.75 losers for every gainer. For 1,642 shares that declined, only 929 advanced. 57 shares remained unchanged.

Among the 30-Sensex pack, 16 advanced while the rest declined.

Reliance Energy was the top loser, down 2.34% to Rs 540.30, on a volume of 1.31 lakh shares. It witnessed high volatility, and moved in a broad range of Rs 478 – 557.95.

ACC (down 1.51% to Rs 1147), HDFC (down 2.10% to Rs 1570.50) and Cipla (down 1.43% to Rs 249) were other others from Sensex pack.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) slipped 0.23% to Rs 1277.10 on 9.65 lakh shares. As per reports, RIL has bagged 2 onshore oil blocks in Yemen.

Ranbaxy Laboratories was the top gainer, up 1.61% to Rs 391.20, on a volume of 2.70 lakh shares.

ICICI Bank rose 1.23% to Rs 873, after the private sector bank on Tuesday said offices had been opened in Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur, to capitalise on a rise in cross-border deals. With the new offices, ICICI Bank will have a presence in 17 countries.

Bhel rose 1.13% to Rs 2613 while Bharti Airtel advanced 1.13% to Rs 646.

Satyam Computer rose 0.40% to Rs 463, on 6.74 lakh shares, following a 3.4% surge in ADR on Tuesday to $24.42. The stock came off an intra-day high of Rs 469, reached in opening trade.

The Nikkei average rose 0.65% or 105.52 points at 16,371.28 on Wednesday with investors buying Bridgestone Corp. on news it would buy U.S. firm Bandag Inc.

Hang Seng index rose 0.43% or 82.17 points to 19026.36

Oil prices were nearly flat Wednesday ahead of the release of weekly US petroleum inventory data. Light, sweet crude for January delivery rose 9 cents to $62.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

As per provisional data, FIIs were net buyers to the tune of Rs 302 crore on Tuesday (5 December), the day when the Sensex rose 63 points. The cumulative FII-inflow has reached $8.3 billion in 2006, compared to a record inflow of $10.7 billion in 2005.

US stocks rose on Tuesday as a report showing unexpected strength in the key services sector suggested earnings growth will weather the housing slowdown. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 47.75 points, or 0.39%, to end at 12,331.60. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 5.64 points, or 0.40%, at 1,414.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 3.99 points, or 0.16%, to close at 2,452.38.