Sensex up by 81 pts despite rise in inflation

Fri, May 16 06:25 PM

Mumbai, May 16 (PTI) Stock market today shrugged off high inflation numbers with its third consecutive day of gain as its benchmark Sensex rose 81 points on strong buying in banking majors like ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC Bank. The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30-share barometer index settled the day at 17,434.94 points, up 81.40 points or 0.47 per cent from its previous close.

Buying in shares of pharma major Ranbaxy, telecom giant Reliance Communications, FMCG firm HUL as well as that of L&T, Tata Motors, Jaiprakash Associates, also aided to the gain. The index rose to an intra-day high of 17,497.36 points, after opening higher by nearly 144 points, but pared some of the gains on profit booking at higher levels in some key blue-chip stocks.

The Sensex has risen by over 680 points or over four per cent in the past three trading sessions. It ended the week with a gain of close to 700 points or about 4.2 per cent.

Firm European markets at the opening and mixed Asian trend with positive bias helped today's rally. Metal and banking counters were among the major gainers.

National Stock Exchange's 50-share Nifty index settled 42.45 points or 0.83 per cent higher at 5,157.70 points. Earlier this morning, the market opened on a positive note on firm global cues as well as heavy buying by foreign funds but fell in the negative terrain after the government data showed inflation hitting its highest level of 7.83 per cent in nearly four years.

However, it recovered from the day's lows on selective buying at lower levels. European markets opened firm by nearly one per cent while Asian markets ended mixed today.

The Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan indices closed in positive terrain while China and Japan finished weak. PTI.

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