Sensex regains 17K-mark on auto, bank rally

Mumbai, Mar 8(PTI) Helped by overseas investors' buying
interest in auto, bank and IT stocks, the markets Monday moved
higher and the benchmark Sensex rose 108 points to close above
the 17,000-mark, scaling a fresh six-week high.
Blue-chips counters ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys,
Mahindra & Mahindra, Hero Honda and SBI registered smart
gains, helping the Sensex rally 108.11 points or 0.64 points
at 17,102.60 points.
However, profit-booking was seen in counters like Bharti
Airtel, Reliance Industries and Hindustan Unilever after the
recent rally on these counters.
Significantly, the NSEs 50-share Nifty breached the key
resistance level of 5,100-mark by adding 35.30 points at 5,124
after touching a high of 5,147.10 in early morning trade.
The Sensex regained the psychologically important
17,000 level after a gap of three days, although it pared some
of its intra-day gains of 193 points.
"With the weakening of the dollar, foreign funds are
buying Indian stocks. As international markets are currently
in a rally mode, the FIIs are also focusing on emerging market
stocks," SMC Global vice-president Rajesh Jain said.
The rupee today touched a two-month high of 45.46
against the greenback as the foreign funds upped their India
focus, pouring in over USD 1 billion in equities.
"The market failed to sustain gains as investors booked
profit in midsession. The market is cautious before NMDC
issue, in which FIIs are waiting to put in money," CNI
Research chairman and managing director Kishore P Ostwal said.
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