Mumbai, July 03: Trading sentiment turned bullish on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday as the benchmark Sensex surged over 254 points following a soft Rail Budget amid brokers covering short positions late in the day.
The Sensex, which remained range-bound in early trade,
shot up by 254.56, or 1.74 per cent, to 14,913.05 as stocks of
companies catering for the railways extended gains after the
Railway Budget kept freight rates unchanged. The key index
touched a high of 14,945.85 points.
Similarly, the 50-stock National Stock Exchange index
Nifty shot up 75.40 points, 1.73 per cent, to 4,424.25, after
touching the day's high of 4,434.45.
Major support to the market came from banking, heavy
machinery, power, healthcare and realty stocks.
Shares of firms serving the railways gained after the
railway minister said private operations of freight terminals
will be encouraged. Container Corporation surged 4 per cent to
Rs 1,010.35 and Stone India 4.8 per cent to Rs 47.15.
Marketmen said the Railway Budget was in line with market
expectations. In view of rising trends, brokers were forced to
cover their pending short positions created in the last few
bearish sessions, they added.
Marketmen said buying picked up as brokers and general
investors expect a friendly general Budget on Monday.
They said the benchmark index ended higher for a second
straight week, led by heavy-machinery stocks, after the
government promised investment in the railways.
The banking sector index gained the most, 2.19 per cent,
to 8,459.70, followed by the capital goods index, 1.90 per
cent, to 13,013.06 after Larsen and Toubro, the largest
engineering company, added 2.82 per cent to Rs 1,607.70.
The power index rose 1.84 per cent to 2,930.23,
healthcare 1.80 per cent to 3,654.91, realty 1.18 per cent to
3,435.23, oil and gas 0.96 per cent to 9,597.26, PSU 0.87 per
cent to 8,226.83, auto 0.85 per cent to 4,612.81 and teck 0.56
per cent to 2,643.54.
The metal index rose 0.53 per cent to 11,303.34 as
stocks of Tata Steel, the biggest producer of the metal,
increased 4.32 per cent Rs 438.30.
Bureau Report