Sensex ends up by mere 23 points for the third consecutive day

In a dull trading, the benchmark sensex ended up by merely 23 points for the third consecutive day on short-covering in view of last day for the futures and options June contract and on hopes of some reforms from Prime Minister.

According to dealers, the Street expects some reforms after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set himself the task of reviving business sentiment and capital flows to prop up the rupee, revisiting aggressive tax enforcement, and turning around the fortunes of the mutual fund and insurance sectors in an attempt to put the economy back on track.

The Bombay Stock Exchange 30-share barometer resumed slightly higher and hovered in a narrow range of 17,033.85 and 16,918.87 before ending a 16,990.76, showing a marginal gain of 23.00 points or 0.14 per cent from its last close. The NSE 50-share Nifty also inched up further by 7.25 points or 0.14 per cent to 5,149.15.

The stock market remained volatile today as traders roll over positions from the near-month series to July 2012 series as the June derivatives contracts expired today. Asian stocks ended mixed ahead of the key two-day summit of the European Union to discuss the ongoing European debt crisis which begins today.

Key benchmark indices in Singapore, South Korea and Japan were up by 0.08 per cent to 1.65 per cent while indices in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan eased by 0.19 per cent to 0.95 per cent.

European stock markets reversed direction after positive start and key indices in France, UK and Germany declined by 0.93 per cent to 1.72 per cent.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 86.09 crore yesterday as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. Out of the 30-share sensex family 15 scrips ended with gains while others finished with losses.

Major gainers from the sensex pack were Tata Steel (1.83 pct), Hero Moto (1.58 pct), NTPC (1.48 pct), ITC (1.47 pct), Coal India (1.43 pct), Tata Power (1.33 pct) and TCS (0.97 pct).

However, Gail India fell by 2.44 pct followed by Sterlite Ind 1.86 pct, Hindalco Ind 1.24 pct, Sun pharma 1.08 pct and SBI 0.85 pct. Among the sectoral indices the BSE-FMCG moved up by 0.82 pct, the BSE-Power 0.38 pct, the BSE-PSU 0.31 pct and the BSE- IT 0.22 pct while the BSE-Oil&Gas eased by 0.73 pct, the Bankex 0.32 pct and the BSE-Consumer Durable 0.30 pct.

The market breadth continued to rule firm as 1,461 shares finished in green while 1,312 ended in red. The total turnover rose to Rs 4,307.29 crs from Rs 1,634.90 crs yesterday.