Market Wrap - Feb 26 2008

On Tuesday, BSE Sensex ended the day with a gain of 155.62 points, or 0.88%, at 17,806.19, while the broad-based NSE Nifty closed at 5,270.05, up 69.35 points, or 1.33%.

The 30-share benchmark index, Sensex, opened with a positive gap of 148.99 points at 17,799.56 mirroring buoyant global cues in the early trades. Later, the index proceeded to trade in the positive terrain on account of sustained buying activity in frontline stocks. Finally, the index closed on a firm note after touching an intraday high of 17, 860.10.

Global markets

Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday (Feb. 26, 2008) after the world`s largest bond insurers retained top credit ratings which eased concerns that the global economic growth will slow on new credit losses.

Market statistics

Out of the total 2,785 stocks traded at the BSE, 1,652 advanced, 1,074 declined while 59 remained unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices, BSE Auto rose 0.54%, Metal rose 1.64%, Power gained 2.65%, BSE Realty moved up 2.53%, IT gained 1.76%, while BSE Bankex shed 0.75%.

Movers and Shakers

Gainers at the Sensex were Grasim, which vaulted 5.06% to close at Rs 3042.70, REL and BHEL rose over 4% each to Rs 1697.25 and Rs 2180.55 respectively. Infosys, HDFC Bank, HUL, ACC, ONGC, Wipro and ICICI Bank were among the other gainers.

Laggards at the BSE Sensex include Bharti Airtel, which dropped 1.38% to end at Rs 838.80, HDFC fell 0.48% to Rs 2574.35 and Tata Motors declined 0.46% to close at Rs 702.10.

Top Turnover

Reliance Power topped the turnover chart with Rs 2,993.5 million followed by Reliance Capital with Rs 1,642.1 million.