MUMBAI, July 30: Select pivotals led by Tata Steel, Hindustan Lever and ICICI rallied on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) mainly on fresh buying by foreign institutional investors (FIIs).The BSE sensitive index moved in a narrow range between 4253.81 and 4220.18 before closing at 4244.89 with a modest gain of 27.31 points compared the the previous level of 4217.58. The BSE-100 index also looked up by 10.46 points to 1850.37 from the previous close of 1839.91.Brokers said operators discounted the recent developments on the political front with the arrest of the former Bihar Chief Minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav for his alleged involvement in the fodder scam. FIIs also made purchases in Proctor & Gamble, Hindalco, Escorts and BASF. The sharp gains in Gujarat A Cement, Hindustan Lever lever and Castrol were attributed to speculative activity in these scrips.Tata Steel led the market with the highest turnover of Rs 158.34 crore of the total volume of business of Rs 801.42 crore followed by ITC Rs 138.54 crore, Reliance Rs 81.32 crore, Telco Rs 68.92 crore and SBI Rs 50.22 crore.Tata Steel shot up by Rs 6.25 to Rs 219.75. Gujarat A Cement spurted by Rs 20.50 to Rs 324.50, Hindustan Lever by Rs 31.50 to Rs 1424.50, ICICI by Rs 9 to Rs 106, IDBI by Rs 4.25 to Rs 102.75 and Asian Paints Rs 21.50 to Rs 360 on speculative support. ITC dipped by Rs 12.50 to Rs 472.25, Reliance by Rs 3.25 to Rs 353, SBI by Rs 2.50 to Rs 316.25 and Telco by Rs 3 to Rs 388.50.On the National Stock Exchange, share prices improved further on the first day of the current settlement on increased buying activity. The NSE-50 index settled at 1197.90, still showing a gain of 7.60 points. The Midcap index closed at 1308.85, showing a gain of 15.00 points. The turnover was Rs 1,437.39 crore.
