Sensex well above 7700 as Reliance crosses Rs1 lakh crore in market cap

02 August 2005

Led by a smart rally in Reliance Industries and broad recovery in oil and gas stocks, the indices posted yet another lifetime high today. The Sensex managed to close well above the 7700 mark comfortably.

Markets opened with a positive gap though banking stocks, which led the market over the last 2 weeks, continued to be weak. The lead was taken over by oil stocks. Auto stocks continued their good run while technology stocks also made some gains.

Sensex closed at 7669, a gain of 34 points and the Nifty at 2354, a gain of 36 points. Nifty August futures discount to the spot index narrowed marginally to 6 points from yesterday's 8 points.

HCL Technology, GAIL and Tata Motors were among the major gainers among Nifty stocks while ICICI Bank, HLL and Ranbaxy were the major losers.

Weakness in bond markets which pushed up bond yields and rising oil prices led to a marginally weak closing for the Dow index yesterday. Strength in technology stocks helped the NASDAQ to close in positive territory.

Crude oil futures for September delivery on the NYMEX rose well over a per cent yesterday to close at $61.57 to a barrel. Oil futures rallied on fears of political instability in Saudi Arabia after the king's death.