960402

Foreign fund buying

lifts Bombay shares

BOMBAY: Foreign institutional buying on Tuesday propelled blue chip shares to a strong finish on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) but there was little other support, brokers said.

"The market is solely driven by FIIs (foreign institutional investors)," said a trader. "They're putting in money into steady growth stocks."

The 30-share BSE index firmed 41.42 points, or 1.23 percent, to a provisional 3,408.03 at close.

The 500-stock CRISII index gained 9.05 points to a provisional 709.18.

The trader said the market was illiquid and the FIIs were unable to buy sufficient quantities of shares.

Most domestic institutions were absent during the day because of book adjustments with the close of financial year on March 31, traders said.

Local mutual funds sold several blue chips, including Reliance, SBI, ACC and Thermax at higher levels, they said.

Analysts said the market was not bothered by the central bank's new credit policy due on Wednesday.

"There may be cosmetic changes in lending rates to agriculture or refinance", an analyst said.

"There won't be any measures to ease liquidity...nothing for the capital market," he said. "It is a non-event."

The forex and call markets were inactive as banks across the country were closed for business on Tuesday to enable closing of accounts for fiscal 1995/96 (April/March).

ACC ended 150 rupees higher at a provisional 3,950 with over 54,000 shares traded as the market expect good results with the cement giant announcing a three-for-five bonus issue on Friday, brokers said. Madras Cement rose 500 rupees to 11,500, SBI 12.25 to 250, and Reliance 3.25 to 211.25 (all provisional closing).-Reuter