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Market holds firm on moderate buying; Nifty rises to 846.45

Share prices firmed up further on the National Stock Exchange following moderate buying support from institutional investors today.

Market opened on a positive note, declined towards, the mid-session before closing higher than its previous close.

Reflecting the trend, the S&P CNX Nifty opened at 842.30 points, touched the day's high of 852.05 points, fell to touch day's low of 838.75 points and closed at 846.45, showing a gain of 3.95 points against the previous close of 842.50 points.

The CNX Nifty Junior closed higher by 1.35 points to 1465.90 points against the previous close of 1464.55 points, S&P CNX Defty gained by 3.25 points to 689.70 points against the previous close of 686.45 points, CNX-500 moved up by 2.57 points to 583.32 points from the last close of 580.75 points. CNX Midcap- 200 remained unchanged at 513.32 points.

The total traded volume also surpassed the Rs 11 billion mark and stood at Rs 11.90 billion, registering a sharp increase against the previous day's turnover of Rs 9.05 billion. About 53.17 million shares were traded in the number of traded of 183,067. Debenture turnover was at Rs 1.9 million.

As many as 407 shares gained, 476 declined and 122 held steady, And 38 securities hit their price bands today.

The most actively traded scrips were ITC with a total turnover of Rs 2.44 billion, Satyam Computers with Rs 1.44 billion and Pentafour Software Rs 996 million.

Other actively traded scrips were Reliance (Rs 930.2 million), Zee Telefilms (Rs 862.6 million), SBI (Rs 540.8 million), Castrol (Rs 376.1 million), HCL-HP (Rs 339.7 million), Silverline (Rs 303.3 million), Tata Tea (Ts 250 million), BHEL (Rs 230.1 million), Dr Reddy's (Rs 207 million), MTNL (Rs 191.2 million), Infosys Tech (Rs 144.8 million), ACC (Rs 130 million), Rolta (Rs 129 million), L&T (Rs 124.6 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 121.7 million), BPL (Rs 116.8 million), Videocon International (Rs 114.1 million), BFL-Software (Rs 99.2 million), BSES (Rs 87.1 million), Gujarat Ambuja Cement (Rs 79.5 million) and Telco (Rs 73.4 million).

The top five S&P Nifty gainers were BSES Rs 159.10 (147.50), BHEL Rs 235.40 (228.95), Glaxo Rs 412.70 (402.55), ICPL rs 44.50 (43.50), Tata Power Rs 92.65 (90.95).

The major losers were BPCL Rs 220.00 (228.55), Indo-Gulf Rs 31.25 (Rrs 32.05), Ashok Leyland Rs 26 (26.50), Thermax Rs 177.95 (181.10), HCPL Rs 269.50 (273.90).

The foreign institutional investors have made purchases worth Rs 155.9 million against the sales of Rs 192 million, registering a net outflow of Rs 36 million. The mutual funds and domestic financial institutional investors made heavy purchases of Rs 214.9 million against the sales of Rs 143.8 million, with a net invesetment of Rs 71 million.

The wholesale debt market of NSE witnessed trades worth Rs 1.90 billion. The 11.55 per cent government loan maturing in 2001 was traded for Rs 600 million at a weighted yield of 11.50 per cent. The zero coupon government loan maturing in 2000 (Series III) was traded for Rs 200 million at a weighted yield of 11.14 per cent. The 364-day Treasury Bill maturing on October 9, 1998 was traded for Rs 100 million at an yield of 9. 60 per cent.

UNI