Indian stocks recover on fund buying - Review for Thursday 17th June
Indian shares recovered smartly in late trade on Thursday to close more than one percent higher as funds swooped in to pick up cheap-looking shares, though pharmaceutical stocks bucked the trend, falling sharply.
The 30-issue Bombay Stock Exchange index closed 1.07 percent higher at 4,839.88 points, off the day's low of 4,746.51 points. The broader 50-share National Stock Exchange index finished 1.16 percent up at 1,512.05 points.
"There was fund buying, values were attractive," said Vipul Sanghvi, director at Fortis Securities.
But a sector downgrade by a foreign brokerage and a bearish outlook from Dr. Reddy's Laboratories at an analyst meeting on Wednesday hurt drug shares, dealers said.
Dr. Reddy's lost 4.52 percent to 754.95 rupees, rival Ranbaxy Laboratories slipped 3.3 percent to 965 rupees and Cipla fell 2.6 percent to 210.45 rupees.
The Bombay market has been drifting in the 4,750 to 5,000 point range in June and market players feel this will remain the case until the budget is announced on July 8.
Cement and banking stocks were among key gainers on Thursday.
Shaking off a recent coal price hike, Associated Cement Companies rose 1.3 percent to 232.6 rupees and Grasim Industries gained 2.2 percent to 930.2 rupees.
Among auto shares, Mahindra & Mahindra added 1.9 percent to 445.15 rupees, Bajaj Auto rose 1.6 percent to 900.50 rupees and Tata Motors rose three percent to 401.85 rupees.
Bank gainers included State Bank of India, which rose 1.5 percent to 449.1 rupees, Oriental Bank of Commerce, up 6.39 percent at 229 rupees, and Bank of Baroda, which rose 3.1 percent to 159.2 rupees.
A newspaper report said the government was looking at the possibility of merging state banks into five or six large ones.
Indian shares recovered smartly in late trade on Thursday to close more than one percent higher as funds swooped in to pick up cheap-looking shares, though pharmaceutical stocks bucked the trend, falling sharply.
The 30-issue Bombay Stock Exchange index closed 1.07 percent higher at 4,839.88 points, off the day's low of 4,746.51 points. The broader 50-share National Stock Exchange index finished 1.16 percent up at 1,512.05 points.
"There was fund buying, values were attractive," said Vipul Sanghvi, director at Fortis Securities.
But a sector downgrade by a foreign brokerage and a bearish outlook from Dr. Reddy's Laboratories at an analyst meeting on Wednesday hurt drug shares, dealers said.
Dr. Reddy's lost 4.52 percent to 754.95 rupees, rival Ranbaxy Laboratories slipped 3.3 percent to 965 rupees and Cipla fell 2.6 percent to 210.45 rupees.
The Bombay market has been drifting in the 4,750 to 5,000 point range in June and market players feel this will remain the case until the budget is announced on July 8.
Cement and banking stocks were among key gainers on Thursday.
Shaking off a recent coal price hike, Associated Cement Companies rose 1.3 percent to 232.6 rupees and Grasim Industries gained 2.2 percent to 930.2 rupees.
Among auto shares, Mahindra & Mahindra added 1.9 percent to 445.15 rupees, Bajaj Auto rose 1.6 percent to 900.50 rupees and Tata Motors rose three percent to 401.85 rupees.
Bank gainers included State Bank of India, which rose 1.5 percent to 449.1 rupees, Oriental Bank of Commerce, up 6.39 percent at 229 rupees, and Bank of Baroda, which rose 3.1 percent to 159.2 rupees.
A newspaper report said the government was looking at the possibility of merging state banks into five or six large ones.
