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Pivotals firm up marginally, Nifty 967.35

Pivotals, after moving in a narrow range, firmed up marginally at close on renewed buying support from foreign institutional investors and bull operators, on the National Stock Exchange today.

Reflecting the uptrend, the NSE-50 index or the Nifty rose by three points to 967.35 points from 964.35 points of the previous day. The dollar NSE-50 index also improved by 1.70 points to 786.25 points from 784.55 points.

The Midcap index went up by 7.80 points to 1429.35 points against 1421.55 points of the previous day.

The total turnover, involving 48.83 million shares in 174,079 trades was Rs 12.29 billion and the debenture traded value was Rs 1.21 million.

409 securities advanced, 573 declined and 97 remained unchanged. 23 scrips have hit their price bands today.

Satyam Computers registered the highest turnover of Rs 2.69 billion, followed by ITC (Rs 2.43 billion), SBI (Rs 1.22 billion), Pentafour Software (Rs 928.8 million), Tata Tea (Rs 679.7 million), Reliance (Rs 526.6 million), Infosys Tech (Rs 316.3 million), L&T (Rs 251.3 million), ACC (Rs 230.2 million), Castrol (Rs 226.3 million), Zee Telefilms (Rs 225.1 million), Hindustan Lever (Rs 185.6 million) and Telco (Rs 178.1 million).

The other securities which witnessed hectic activity were: Bajaj Auto (Rs 168.7 million), BSES (Rs 157.8 million), Tisco (Rs 110.8 million), BFL Software (Rs 105.1 million), Silverline (Rs 102.1 million), Square D Software (Rs 89.1 million), MTNL (Rs 58.1 million), LML (Rs 57.4 million), Dr Reddy's (Rs 54.5 million), HCL-HP (Rs 52.7 million), NIIT (Rs 51.2 million) and Softsolint (Rs 46.7 million).

Thermax recorded the highest gain to touch Rs 170.05 (159.00), followed by HDFC Bank 69.20 (67.05), Bajaj Auto Rs 644.95 (625.35), Indian Rayon Rs 177.35 (172.50) and L&T Rs 236.90 (232.25).

GE Shiiping suffered the highest loss to sink to Rs 29.70 (30.75), followed by BSES Rs 157.10 (162.40), Indo Gulf Rs 31.80 (32.85), Tata Tea Rs 299.70 (308.50) and Asian Paint Rs 267.25 (274.60).

FIIs' share purchases were higher at Rs 293.78 million against their sales for Rs 225.77 million indicating a net inflow of foreign funds to the tune of Rs 67.99 million.

The wholesale debt market of NSE witnessed trading worth Rs 4.45 billion. The 13.65 per cent government loan maturing in 1999 was traded for Rs 700 million at a weighted yield of 9.60 per cent. The 11.55 per cent government loan maturing in 2001 was traded for Rs 400 million at a weighted yield of 11.46 per cent.

The 14-day treasury bill maturing on July 25, 1998 was traded for Rs 680 million at a weighted yield of 6.53 per cent. Two repo trades amounting to Rs 500 million were transacted at a repo rate of 7 per cent for a repo term of 14 days. The turnover of debentures was Rs 499,000.

UNI