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G. Madhan

THE benchmark BSE Sensex, for the eighth consecutive day, went up on Tuesday closing at a four-month high. Despite the selling pressure witnessed by the key tech stocks such as Infosys Technologies, indices were up backed by buying interest in index heavyweights, Reliance Industries and Hindustan Lever and some of the public sector units including Hindustan Petroleum and National Aluminium.

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At the close of trading, the market went up by 12.20 points (0.38 per cent) to close at 3187.76 points. Gainers outnumbered losers in the ratio of 13 to 10 in a trading of 9.09 crore shares, up from Monday's 7.43 crore shares.

The National Stock Exchange's S&P CNX Nifty also went up by 9.95 points (0.97 per cent) to 1036.15 points.

Among the index heavyweights, software major Infosys Technologies, continued to decline and lost Rs 76.55 to end at Rs 4,485.75 with accompanying volumes of 4.02 lakh shares. ITC spiralled down by Rs 10.30 to end at Rs 633.95. About 93,543 shares were exchanged at this counter. FMCG major Hindustan Lever went up marginally by Rs 2.60 to end at Rs 167 with accompanying volumes of 15.41 lakh shares, up from Monday's 7.17 lakh shares. Petrochemical major Reliance Industries notched up by 1.76 per cent to end at Rs 292.05, on news that it had bagged 13 of the 23 oil exploration blocks awarded by the Government. About 62.25 lakh shares were exchanged in its counter, up from the previous day's 40.95 lakh shares.

Among the PSUs, refinery major Hindustan Petroleum, continuing Monday's trend, moved up Rs 8.40 to close at Rs 213.45 with accompanying volumes of 15.41 lakh shares, up from the Monday's 9.59 lakh shares. Bharat Petroleum also notched up by 1.05 per cent to Rs 187.25 with accompanying volumes of 7.19 lakh shares. State-run National Aluminium, continuing its previous day's trend, went up by 6.05 per cent to Rs 78.90. About 5.20 lakh shares were exchanged in this counter, up from the previous day's 1.22 lakh shares. Government-owned Shipping Corporation of India also notched up by 0.44 per cent to end at Rs 57.45. Volumes of 2.88 lakh shares accompanied the stock.

In the information technology sector, software major Wipro gained 1.33 per cent to close at Rs 1,613.40 with volumes of 4.72 lakh shares and HCL Technologies went up marginally by Rs 4.10 to end at Rs 186.55 with accompanying volumes of 5.84 lakh shares. Software major Digital GlobalSoft also notched by 0.3 per cent to end at Rs 581.85 with volumes of 30.06 lakh shares, up from the previous day's 14.96 lakh shares. However, Satyam Computer Services went down by Rs 0.20 to Rs 274.50 with volumes of 82.39 lakh shares.

Among the medium-sized software firms, Mastek, NIIT, Aftek Infosys, Hexaware Technologies and Mascon Global gained ground, while Polaris Software, VisualSoft and Hughes Software declined.

In the automobile segment, truck manufacturer Tata Engineering went up by Rs 5.25 to end at Rs 166.95 with accompanying volumes of 13.72 lakh shares while Hero Honda went up 1.06 per cent to Rs 287.05 with trading volumes 4.09 lakh shares. However, two-wheeler major, Bajaj Auto lost ground by Rs 6.85 to Rs 472.55 with volumes of 1.33 lakh shares up from the previous day's 25,588 shares.

Pharma major, Nicholas Piramal, went up by 0.92 per cent to Rs 226.05. The company has proposed a merger of Global Bulk Drugs and Fine Chemicals with itself. Zee Telefilms notched up by 0.21 per cent to Rs 94.60 with accompanying volumes of 29.96 lakh shares. Business news channel, CNBC India, is set to move to the Zee-Turner joint venture.

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