Market rebounds, Sensex up 76 pts
Mumbai: The 30-share BSE Sensex bounced back on Tuesday gaining 75.50 points or 1.59 per cent to close at 4,835.12. The gains in the market were attributed to foreign institutional investors' (FIIs) inflows turning positive and impressive automobile sales figures released by Hero Honda Motors Ltd (HHML) and Maruti Udyog Ltd (MUL) for May 2004. The broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty also settled higher by 24.30 points or 1.64 per cent to 1,507.90 points. However, despite, Tuesday's rise in the cash market, the Nifty futures at 1,483.40 were still trading at a substantial discount of 24.50 points to it's cash market price.

Besides, positive FII inflows, to the tune of Rs21.30 crore in the Indian equity markets on Monday, steady US markets and firm Asian markets (Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Philippines and South Korea) ended in the positive territory, gaining in the range of 0.14 per cent to 1.48 per cent), helped the BSE Sensex to open in a positive territory. Turnover on the BSE dropped to Rs1,825.89 crore on Tuesday (Rs2,033.16 crore on Monday) while 8.88 crore (10.93 crore) shares were traded. On the NSE, 23.76 crore shares worth Rs4,073.75 crore (Rs4,503.51 crore on Monday) were traded on Tuesday. The Sensex opened with a positive gap of 32 points at 4,792.01 points, the day's lowest level and went on to touch a high of 4,899.53, up 140 points. The market traded close to 100 points for most part of the trading session before closing at 4,835.12.

The star performers of the day were the auto sector stocks. Four-wheeler manufacturers like Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog and Mahindra & Mahindra, two-wheelers makers TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda along with auto component companies such as Sono Koyo Steering, Motherson Sumi Systems, Rico Auto, MICO and SKF Bearing recorded large gains. News developments like Maruti Udyog's 24 per cent rise in sales in April-May 2004 over the previous year and HSBC Global Investment Fund's holding in Mahindra & Mahindra crossing the threshold of 5 per cent also helped auto stocks along. Hero Honda Motors and Maruti Udyog registered handsome gains of over 3.50 per cent following impressive vehicle sales for May 2004. Hero Honda was up 3.60 per cent at Rs462.25 while Maruti Udyog was up 3.98 per cent.

Stocks of a few public sector companies, hammered over the past few sessions, partially recovered ground. Stocks such as HPCL, which declared a dividend of Rs22 per share on Monday, Indian Overseas Bank, Corporation Bank, Chennai Petroleum and GAIL India clocked gains of more than 7 per cent. Other stocks to gain include Tata Chemicals and Hind Lever Chemicals, Monnet Ispat, Bharat Bijlee and Avery India. Tata Chemicals' stock shot up on the news that it is to be merged with Hind Lever Chemicals.
Monnet Ispat's stock spurted after the announcement that Citicorp International Finance is picking up a stake in the company at a price, which is nearly 26 per cent more than the closing price on Wednesday. The stock price of Bharat Bijlee strengthened by 5 per cent in the backdrop of the sale of its field operations business to an outfit owned by Kone Elevator for a consideration of Rs47 crore.

The stock of Avery India flared up by 13 per cent with the company announcing that it is considering another proposal for a buyback. Promoter buying also perked up stocks of Bajaj Auto and Usha Beltron. MTNL gained 5 per cent. The National Stock Exchange has sought clarifications from the company in response to reports that BSNL may be merged with MTNL. Losers during the day included stocks such as Jubilant Organosys and Perfect Circle Victor. Jubilant Organosys declined by 6 per cent even as the company announced that it had purchased a Belgium firm for 13.5 million euros in cash.
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BPCL, HPCL gain
Mumbai: The shares of BPCL and HPCL gained sharply on Tuesday on the back of good dividend yield. Rumours that the Government would decide on the price hike for petroleum products soon also boosted the two stocks.

In addition, the financial results of HPCL, which were better than market expectations, also enthused the market. BPCL gained 9.49 per cent to close at Rs324.10 on the BSE, while HPCL gained 6.70 per cent to end at Rs320.80 on Tuesday.
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FIIs were net sellers in May
Mumbai: Dogged by political uncertainty and the possibility of increase in the US interest rates, for the first time in 17 months, in May this year, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the Indian equity markets. FIIs sold equity of about Rs3,251 crore during May with 30 per cent of the sales taking place on May 13 and 14. On May 17, when the Sensex lost 564 points, the net sales of the FIIs were about Rs63.5 crore.

Of the total 21 days of trading on the bourses during May 2004, the FIIs were net buyers only for five days. The FII action in May was a complete contrast to their actions in the previous month of April 2004, when they remained net buyers to the tune of Rs4,173 crore. For the year ending May 2004, the FIIs have remained net buyers to the extent of Rs41,771 crore. The last time FIIs were net sellers (in October 2002), the redemption was on a much lower scale at Rs776 crore.
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