Foreign funds up Sensex 125 pts

MUMBAI: The benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex saw its second-biggest rally this fiscal, with all its 30 stocks gaining on fresh purchases by foreign funds.
This was coupled with short-covering by domestic operators, who had anticipated a weak cash market ahead of the expiry of the September futures on Thursday.
The Sensex crossed the 4,300 mark in late trade to end the day at 4,356.39 points, up 124.7 points, or 2.95 per cent.
The 50-share S&P CNX Nifty index on the National Stock Exchange ended up 41.55 points at 1,369.75.
Cement, technology and auto stocks were the prominent gainers.
FIIs have pumped in Rs 3,114 crore so far this month, as against Rs 2,091 crore in the whole of August. In fact, this is the largest ever FII inflow in a single month since January 2001.
BSE member Ramesh Damani said the rise was also due to the unwinding of outstanding positions in the futures and options market. ‘‘The market is poised for a fresh rally ahead of the second quarter results,’’ he said.
Salim Dawoodani, vice-president and technical analyst at Darashaw Broking, however, believes the rally was index-managed. Indeed, the market breadth was only mildly positive, with gainers outpacing losers 838 to 731 on the BSE. ‘‘The Sensex is expected to fizzle out at around 4,473. Thereafter, it will be range-bound between 4,400 and 4,100 levels,’’ he said.
The country’s biggest private sector company, Reliance Industries, ended 4 per cent higher at Rs 429. Hindustan Lever moved up by 2 per cent to Rs 184 in the last half-hour of trade, after touching an intra-day low of Rs 178.20. The other prominent gainers were ITC (up 4 per cent at Rs 816.35) and State Bank of India (up 1 per cent at Rs 422.45).
PSU stocks gained on privatisation hopes sparked by a scheduled Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment meeting on October 3. The BSE PSU index rose 3.14 per cent to 2,770.28. Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers hit the 20 per cent upper limit at Rs 30.6, while Container Corporation of India jumped 9.78 per cent to Rs 477.55.
Tech shares rose on the back of overnight gains on the Nasdaq. Infosys Technologies crossed the Rs 4,500-mark on expectations of good second-quarter results and a big dividend. HCL Technologies and Satyam Computers also ended higher.
Cement shares ended the day up due to an imminent price hike.