03 - June - 2005

The Indian equity markets surged ahead and the NIFTY closed at 2094.25 (up by 29.6 points / 1.43%). The BSE Sensex closed at 6,749 (up 94 points). The rupee was trading at 43.56 to the dollar.
The Nifty closed up over 1.40% helped by strong gains in the Reliance group stocks. The Reliance group stocks including Reliance, Reliance Energy, IPCL, and Reliance Capital gained on reports that the Ambani brothers were likely to reach a settlement within a week. A rally was witnessed in technology, banking, metal, and auto stocks as well. The Sensex went above 100 points and it was the first 100-point rally for Sensex since April 20th and is it is the highest closing for Sensex since March 14.
The Nifty touched an intraday high of 2097.25 and an intraday low of 2061.35.
The Midcap 200 Index closed at 3006.75. It touched an intraday high of 3008.40 and an intraday low of 2990.50.
The market breadth was positive, about 1797 shares advanced, 667 shares declined, and 56 shares remained unchanged.
The F&O turnover was at around Rs 10,000 crore (Rs 100 billion) led by Reliance Industries. The Nifty Futures trimmed discount; it was at a discount of 17 points and closed at 2077. RIL, Satyam, Arvind Mills, IndusInd, IDBI, and Infosys were the top trades.

The BSE IT Index outperformed the other indices. It closed up 2.38% at 2752.67 amidst gains in Infosys, Wipro, Satyam, TCS, Moser Baer, i-flex Solutions, MphasiS BFL, Polaris and HCL Technologies.
Rally was also seen in oil stocks including Reliance, ONGC, Castrol, MRPL, and Chennai Petro. The BSE Oil & Gas Index closed up 2.28% at 3153.91. Several banking stocks including PNB, Oriental Bank, Bank of India, Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, SBI, ICICI Bank, IOB, Union Bank and UCO Bank also witnessed good buying. The Bankex closed up 0.92% at 3804.51.

The BSE Healthcare Index closed up 0.90% at 2763.19 due to buying in Aurobindo Pharma, Wockhardt, Matrix Lab, Ipca Labs, Cipla, Ranbaxy, FDC, Sun Pharma, and Novartis India.
FMCG stocks including ITC, HLL, Nirma, Colgate, Britannia, Dabur India, and Gillette India also firmed up. Buying was also seen in capital goods stocks including Alstom Projects, Larsen, HMT, ABB and BHEL. Metal stocks also ended on a firm note due to buying in Nalco, Hindalco, Sail, Tisco, JVSL, and Jindal Steel. Telecom stocks including Bharti Tele Ventures, VSNL and MTNL also gained. Media stocks including Zee, Balaji Telefilms, Mukta Arts, and TV18 also put on a good show. Select buying was seen in cement stocks.

Markets rallied sharply during the final hour of trade as buying intensified amongst the index heavyweights, especially helped by the Reliance push. Investors' interest in stocks from the auto, banking, commodity, FMCG and pharma sectors also buoyed sentiment. Engineering stocks, however, closed the day on a mixed note.

Top Gainers Jun 3, 2005

ZEE TELE 147.95 4.93%
VSNL 217.55 4.72%
RELIANCE 554.50 4.65%
PNB 388.20 3.67%
NALCO 146.30 3.65%
Top Losers
GRASIM 1,100.25 -1.17%
TATA TEA 585.00 -1.07%
GUJ.AMBUJA 444.00 -0.91%
GLAXO 773.10 -0.86%
DR.REDDY 730.00 -0.61%

Let's watch what the market tells us tomorrow. Tomorrow is a trading day (from 10:30 to 1:30) although it is a Saturday.