Sensex spurts 96 points

It was a historical day for the markets, with the barometer index BSE Sensex hitting the 15000 level. Except for the small hiccup in early trade, the market headed higher with the passage of time as buying momentum refused to die down. IT shares dominated the market throughout the day, ahead of their results. A fall in rupee aided the rally in IT scrips. Buying was also seen in cement stocks, while banking shares saw profit booking.

The benchmark 30-shares BSE Sensex was up 95.75 points to 14,957.64 as per provisional closing. It struck a record high of 15,007.22 at 13:21 IST. It had opened at 14,843.43 and slipped to a low of 14,826.56 at 10:07 IST, which was a fall of 35 points for the day. It oscillated in a range of 180 points for the day.

The S&P CNX Nifty also struck an all time high of 4,411 in late-afternoon trade, and settled 29.35 points higher at 4383.30, as per provisional close.

It has taken seven months for the Sensex to move from 14,000 to 15,000. The index had first hit 14,000 on 5 December 2006. In contrast, it had taken just 26 trading sessions for the Sensex to reach the 14,000 level after it had hit the 13,000-mark on 30 October 2006.

It took about 17 months for the Sensex to move from the 10,000 level to 15,000. The barometer index had first struck 10,000 mark on 6 February 2006.

On BSE, a deal took place in State Bank of India (SBI) at Rs 1,760 at 13:03 IST. It is also all time high for the stock. This is way above the ruling market price of Rs 1,570. And the quantity executed at that price was not minuscule: 16,762 shares changed hands in the stock at the price. The SBI stock settled 0.14% higher at Rs 1549, on 6.32 lakh shares.

India's wholesale price index rose 4.13% in the 12 months to 23 June 2007, higher than the previous week's increase of 4.03% due to a rise in some food and mineral prices, government data released noon today, 6 July 2007, showed.

The total turnover on BSE amounted to Rs 5,850 crore compared with a turnover of Rs 5,329 crore at about 14:30 IST.

The market breadth was strong, with small-cap and mid-cap shares also participating in the rally: 1,490 shares rose on BSE as against 1,176 that declined, while 86 were unchanged.

Among the Sensex pack, 25 advanced while the rest declined.

IT pivotals dominated gainers, with 4 from the top 5 Sensex gainers being IT stocks. They advanced on fresh buying after the Indian rupee today, Friday, 6 July 2007, turned weak and was quoted at 40.47/48 against the US currency due to suspected intervention by the central bank and dollar buying by oil refinery companies.

Satyam Computers galloped 4.60% to Rs 485.50 on 12.53 lakh shares and was the top gainer from the Sensex pack.

Infosys Technologies (up 3% to Rs 1974), TCS (up 4.17% to Rs 1156), and Wipro (up 2.95% to Rs 519), were other gainers from IT sector.

Wipro signed definitive agreements to acquire 100% shareholding in Unza Holdings (Unza), a Singapore-based fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company, for an all-cash consideration of Rs 1010.20 crore (approximately $246 million). It recorded revenue of Rs 683.30 crore with double-digit operating margin for fiscal year ending on 30 April 2007. Transaction is expected to be closed by end July 2007. The company made this announcement after market hours on 6 July 2007

Shares from cement pack advanced today, Friday, 6 July 2007, after declining on Thursday 5 July 2007. They had surged recently on reports that cement firms have hiked prices by Rs 3-Rs 5 per 50-kilogram bag across India effective from 4 July 2007.

Ambuja Cements (up 1.86% to Rs 131.50), ACC (up 2.28% to Rs 1045), Birla Corporation (up 3.56% to Rs 284) and India Cements (up 3% to Rs 219.80) edged up from the cement sector.

Engineering and construction major L&T advanced 1.71% to Rs 2,371, after striking an all-time high of Rs 2,385.90. L&T will float five new companies to ensure better corporate governance as well as attracting talent. The companies will operate in L&T’s new business areas of power projects, boilers, turbines, water and shipbuilding.

Private sector banking major ICICI Bank was week throughout the day’s trading session. It was the top loser from the Sensex pack. The stock lost 2.70% to Rs 978.25 on 32.47 lakh shares. The 5.81-crore shares of ICICI Bank offered in its follow on public offer (FPO) that was completed last month, were listed on the bourses today. The company had priced its FPO at Rs 940 per share. Retail investors were offered the shares at a discount of Rs 50, i.e., at Rs 890 per share.

The issue was subscribed 11.5 times, with the qualified institutional buyers category bid 21.6 times. The issue was open from 19 June 2007 to 22 June 2007.

HDFC (down 1.74% to Rs 1916), Maruti Udyog (down 1.27% to Rs 795) and Cipla (down 1.50% to Rs 213) were the other losers.

Index heavyweight Reliance Industries (RIL) was up 0.27% to Rs 1,712.55, on 7.59 lakh shares. It moved in range of Rs 1703 – 1733.

Real-estate major DLF rose 0.17% Rs 571, on high volumes of 55.15 lakh shares. The stock had settled at Rs 570.05 on Thursday, 5 July 2007, at a premium of 8.57% over the IPO price of Rs 525.

Mahindra & Mahindra surged 2.83% to Rs 791 on renewed buying ahead of its entry into the BSE Sensex from Monday, 9 July 2007. In the market barometer index, the tractor & utility vehicle maker will replace two-wheeler maker Hero Honda. Hero Honda also rose 1.52% to Rs 699.85.

Most Asian markets rebounded from early fall. Shanghai Composite surged after initial fall. It surged 4.58% at 3,781.34. Hang Seng (up 1.25% to 22,531.74), Seoul Composite (up 0.72% to 1,861.01), Taiwan Weighted (up 0.43% to 9,188.31) and Straits Times (up 0.29% to 3,561.96), edged higher.

Majority of European indices were trading with gains.

US stocks closed mixed in post-holiday trading on Thursday, 5 July 2007, as a rebound in bond yields stifled Wall Street's excitement about new buyout activity and strength in the US service sector. The Dow fell 11.46 points, or 0.08%, to 13,565.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 0.53 points, or 0.03%, to 1,525.40, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 11.70 points, or 0.44%, to 2,656.65.