Nifty forges ahead gaining 22 points

MUMBAI, FEB 25: Pivotals staged a rally on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, thanks to renewed buying by speculators. The Nift...

MUMBAI, FEB 25: Pivotals staged a rally on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, thanks to renewed buying by speculators. The Nifty index surged by 21.95 points to close at 1,036.05 points and several shares ended with gains.

The first day of the trading cycle on the National Stock Exchange (coinciding with the holiday on the Bombay Stock Exchange) saw the local punters making fresh positions at several counters. As a result, the turnover of the bourse rose to touch a high of Rs 1,263.90 crore.

The rally was kicked off at the counters of ITC, Tata Tea and Castrol. ITC touched a new 52-week high of Rs 648.45 and closed at Rs 646.90 registering a huge volume of 55.98 lakh shares. “ITC has once again caught the fancy of line operators. It should continue to hog the limelight during this week to touch new highs,” said a BSE broker.

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Castrol, having entered the no-delivery phase on the NSE, also caught the market fancy. Mirroring the continuous buying at the counter, the scrip crossed thetechnical barrier of Rs 698 to touch an intra-day high of Rs 709 and finally closed at Rs 707.55 with a volume of 11.23 lakh shares.

Market circles argue that the jump of over Rs 20 in a single trading session is justified on the grounds of the dividend payout of Rs 8 and carry forward charge of Rs 3. Tata Tea also flared by over 1 per cent to close at Rs 438.25. The stock accounted for a phenomenal turnover of Rs 14.54 crore.

Continous bouts of sales and purchases distributed over the trading session saw Lakme record a wide price fluctuation. The stock continued to fall from Tuesday’s close of Rs 158 to touch the lower end of the price band at Rs 138.10. However, sudden buying interests saw the counter flare up to touch a high of Rs 168.75 during the mid-session, registering a huge volume of 6.86 lakh shares on the back of FII buying.

Similarly, LML registered phenomenal volumes of over 86 lakh shares. The buying has been attributed to orders placed by the government of Singapore. The stock whichopened at a weak note of Rs 115 touched an intra-day’s high of Rs 126.20 and finally closed at Rs 124.90 recording a neat gain of 8.6 per cent over Tuesday’s close.

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The news of Wockhardt takeover of Merind led to the Merind stock touching a new high of Rs 194.10, where the scrip was locked at the upper end of the price band. The stock registered a trading volume of 2,450 shares and a huge outstanding buy order of 18,600 shares was recorded at the same price. Wockhardt rose by 7.3 per cent to close at Rs 209.80 with a volume of 51,900 shares.

About 122 stocks hit their price bands with most being side counters like Pentafour Software, Corporation Bank, Punjab Tractors, NIIT, India Cements, Hindustan Power, Coats Viyella and Zee TV.