Indices manage to close with gains amid volatility

27 May 2005

Markets opened on a very firm note after yesterday's strong rally in the US markets. The sharp upsurge in ADR's of IT stocks yesterday led to all round buying which saw the indices rally close to a per cent higher in morning trades. Heavy buying interest in FMCG stocks like HLL and ITC helped the indices to rally further.

Markets maintained their up trend and touched the highs of the day by noon. Early afternoon saw the indices correcting marginally only to re-test the earlier highs later.

Massive selling in the last one hour saw the indices tumbling down and giving up all their gains. The Nifty went into the red for a brief while before recovering to close with marginal gains.

Sensex closed at 6708, up 37 points and the Nifty at 2076, up 2 points. Nifty June futures discount to the spot index narrowed to 28 points from yesterday's 40 points.

Among Nifty stocks, HLL, Ranbaxy, MTNL were the major percentage gainers while BHEL, Sun Pharma and Hero Honda were the major losers.

Yesterday, US markets surged after release of data showing strong economic growth. US GDP surged 3.5 per cent in the first quarter against earlier estimates of 3.1 per cent. NASDAQ closed with gains of a per cent. Gains on the Dow were marginally lower.