Mumbai: Snapping its five-day falling trend, the BSE benchmark index Sensex today recovered over 41 points helped by gains in bluechips like RIL, ITC and Larsen & Toubro on value buying by funds and retail investors.
After a lower start, the 30-share index bounced back to touch intra-day high of 22,592.03 before settling at 22,445.12, a moderate rise of 41.23 points, or 0.18 per cent. The index touched the session's low of 22,354.45. The gauge had lost 472.65 points in the past five sessions. Similarly, the broad-based Nifty of the National Stock Exchange ended 4.55 points, or 0.07 per cent higher at 6,699.35.
It touched a high of 6,741.05 and a low of 6,680.45. "The market has become volatile as participants prefer to book profits at every rise," said Manoj Choraria, a Delhi-based broker. Reliance Industries surged by 1.82 per cent, ONGC by 1.93 per cent and ITC Ltd by 1.22 per cent. These three carry the most weightage in the Sensex. Larsen and Toubro continued its rising streak on funds buying and gathered another 1.62 per cent.
Of the 30 Sensex scrips, 17 rose while 13 ended lower. Banking counters were back in demand after they retreated recently on profit-booking, while oil and gas sector stocks rebounded on emergence of buying at prevailing levels. The oil and gas sector index gained the most by surging 1.53 per cent to 9,697.33 followed by metal index by 1.21 per cent to 9,959.13. Capital goods index rose by 0.91 per cent to 12,011.27, while Banking index gained 0.40 per cent to 14,749.12.
