The Hindu Business Line : Banking support

SEVERAL public sector banks and UTI appear to have lent support to the stock market to stop the indices from falling too much. According to a dealer, many banks bought the index stocks basket, especially the Nifty, at lower levels on Tuesday as well as on Wednesday. Even UTI pitched in, he said.

One dealer speculated that they may have been `advised' by New Delhi to stem the fall in stock prices, which, on the day of the interim Budget, shows the Government in poor light. He said the ruling parties did not want the `feel-good factor' to flag in the run up to general elections.

While the BSE Sensex closed at 5756, which was135 points higher than its previous close, the S&P CNX Nifty of the NSE rose more than 3 per cent to close at 1822.

Steel show

THE stock of the Tata group steelmaker was one of the top gainers among index stocks on unconfirmed news that the company had hiked product prices by 20 per cent in new supply contracts.

According to the market grapevine, such deals would be more than a fourth of its current turnover. The stock rose nearly 8 per cent on the BSE to close at Rs 416.10. While about 68 lakh shares were traded on the BSE, more than 1.4 crore shares changed hands on the NSE.

Dinesh Narayanan

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