The Hindu Business Line : Sensex ends week on a new high

THE stock markets ended the week with another high on Friday with the key BSE-30 Sensex closing at 10,110.97 points, up by 66.15 points from the previous close.

The S&P CNX Nifty also reached an all-time high when it closed at 3027.55 points. This is a gain of 18.6 points from Wednesday's 3,008.95 points.

During the week, which saw the BSE-30 index touching the 10,000-mark for the first-time ever, the Sensex has risen by 368.39 points in four trading sessions (Thursday was a holiday). FMCG and pharmaceutical shares helped Friday's upturn.

"The undertone remains bullish. We are seeing fresh buying in frontline index stocks and the next target will be 10,250 points," said Mr Gaurang Shah, Regional Manager, Geojit Financial Services.

The broader BSE100 index closed at 5322.71 points on Friday, a gain of 39.02 points.

ITC closed at Rs 163.10, up 2.45 per cent from the previous close while HLL rose 5.50 per cent at Rs 208.05. Several pharmaceutical stocks, including Ranbaxy, also gained significantly on Friday.

FIIs keep faith: Foreign funds continued to pump in money into the markets, helping them to remain in the bullish territory. Figures show FIIs were net buyers to the tune of $210.70 million (Rs 935.60 crore) on Wednesday, the single biggest net investment on a single day in 2006. The FIIs have bought $761.1 million (Rs 3,448.2 crore) worth stocks in the first 10 days of this month alone. This is in addition to the $848.90 million (Rs 3,877.70 crore) they bought in January.

However, the mutual funds were net sellers of Rs 222.25 crore in February.

"The visit by (the US President, Mr George) Bush and the pre-Budget expectations will keep the markets in bullish territory next week as well," said Mr Ketan Dedhia of Nalanda Securities.

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