Mumbai, Aug 19: Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) Sensitive Index hits the 4,000-mark on Tuesday, as the bullish trend is likely to continue. Players do not rule out some amount of profit booking at the higher levels after recent gains. There have been some concerns about the fate of the ruling National Democratic Front (NDA) government as the voting on the proposed no-confidence motion is scheduled today. Market players believe that while the results of the voting may not be available today, there is no major threat to the government as it apparently has enough numbers to pull along.

Tech stocks are likely to recover following solid gains in the US markets Monday. Players expect gains to continue in Old Economy stocks. The BSE Sensitive Index (Sensex) zoomed towards the 4,000-mark on Monday. Led by massive gains in Old Economy stocks, especially steel scrips, the benchmark index settled 56.63 points higher at 3,977.73, its best close since 8 March 2001.

The NSE S&P CNX Nifty Index gained 33.65 points to close at 1,281.40.

The market remained steady throughout the session. It opened firm and gained ground subsequently. Steel stocks led the rally. Other Old Economy stocks in the cement and automobile sectors also recorded gains. Heavyweights contributed to the gains in the Sensex. Weakness, however, was seen in select cement and pharma pivotals. The undertone of the market appeared to be optimistic following the improved outlook for the country’s economy. Positive statements from the retiring Reserve Bank of India governor, Bimal Jalan, also perked up the market sentiment. Jalan has indicated that the economy is in a much better position as compared to 10 years ago. The country is also enjoying a reasonably good balance of payments scenario, according to him.


Also, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, in his Independence Day speech last Friday, announced a Rs 1,00,000-crore project to link ports in India. This is likely to further increase the demand for steel and cement Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continue to pump in on the Indian bourses. For yet another trading session on Thursday (14 August 2003), FIIs remained net buyers. FIIs pumped in a net Rs 102.10 crore on Thursday. That still was slightly lower than their inflow of Rs 113 crore on Wednesday (13 August 2003).


Earlier, US stocks closed solidly higher on Monday, as a rally in the chip sector and strength in retailers encouraged buying and sent the Dow to its highest close in almost 14 months. The Nasdaq composite (up 37.48 points to 1739.49) rallied 2.2%, while the Dow Jones industrial average (up 90.76 points to 9412.45) bounced 1% higher.

Some gains were also fueled by relief that the largest blackout in history, which hit a substantial portion of the Northeast on Thursday, did not cause more damage and disruption.

Among the Indian ADRs listed on the US markets, Infy, the Infosys Tech ADS, gained $ 0.46 to $ 52. Wit, the Wipro ADR, shed $ 1 to $ 21.95. Rdy, the Dr Reddy’s Lab ADR, lost $ 0.40 to $ 23.45, and Say, the Satyam Computer ADS, gained $ 0.29 to $ 10.59.

Bureau Report