AUG 9 SATURDAY

VALUE BUYING PUSHES UP SHARE PRICES

Bargain hunting in some blue chips in the last hour of

the session helped shares to end slightly higher on Friday

after having been in negative territory for most of the session

on profit taking ab=nd worries about inflation,

The Bombay Stock Exchange's 30 stock Sensitive index ,

or sensex , rose 50.57 points or 0.3 % , to end at 15167.82 in

a volatile session marked by buying at low valuations and

quick profit taking.

The index has gained nearly 4 % in the last 3 sessions.

It opened lower in line with Wall Street's overnight fall

taking the markets down to 14888.12 before value buying

took it an intra day high of 15228.82.

GAINERS OF THE DAY

ICICI Bank rose 2.9 % to Rs 728.90 after falling

to an intraday low of 683.10.

Larsen and Toubro was up 2.8 % at Rs 2834.05.

LOSERS OF THE DAY

Reliance Industries and Bharati Airtel were

among the shares dragging the markets down.

Infosys fell 2.4 % to Rs 1679.85.

Satyam declined 1.8 % to Rs 409.

Reliance dipped 0.9 % to Rs 2250.45

Bharati Airtel closed 1 % to Rs 841.70.