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Krishnan Thiagarajan

THE bullish undertone in technology stocks was at the vanguard of the sharp rise in the BSE Sensex during Monday's trading. Aided further by the buoyancy in the other heavyweights such as Hindustan Lever, Reliance Industries and ITC, the Sensex closed at 5390.88 points, up by 75.07 points (or 1.41 per cent). Most of the buying activity was concentrated in the last half an hour of trading which helped the index close on a strong note.

The Sensex opened for the day at 5353.70 points, touched a low of 5351.03 and a high of 5399.08 points, marginally higher than the close for the day. The 30-share Sensex recorded a mixed trend with 19 stocks advancing in value. Apart from the old economy heavyweights, the big gainers in the Sensex were the technology stocks such as Infosys Technologies (2.25 per cent), Satyam Computers (5.23 per cent) and Wipro (3.81 per cent). The buoyancy was also evident from the BSE - IT Index in which 43 out of the 46 stocks appreciated in value. The other sectoral indices, which outperformed the Sensex were the BSE-FMCG Index and the BSE Consumer Durables Index.

Out of 2,200 stocks traded on Monday, 1,564 appreciated in value while 577 logged declines. The strong trend in the number of stocks hitting the upper circuit filter continued among the B1, B2, T and Z category stocks. In the B2-category, 144 stocks hit the upper circuit, while 114 stocks belonged to the T category.

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The significant gainers were populated with technology stocks such as Nucleus Software, Odyssey Technologies, KLG Systel or Trigyn Technologies. Even other gainers were from the telecom-software-media triad such as Shyam Telecom, ETC Networks, Vindhya Telelinks and Aksh Optifibre. The other gainers were Andrew Yule, Jindal Stainless, Henkel Spic, Mukand and Dabur.

The Nucleus Software stock appreciated by Rs 22.55 (or 20 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 135.35. This was accompanied by a fourfold jump in trading volumes, with volumes going up from 17,293 shares on Friday's trading to 59,148 shares during the day. The uptrend has to be seen in the light of the notification to the BSE that the company has been featured among the Top 250 Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Asia Pacific Technology Fast 500-2004 list.

Aided by robust volumes, the KLG Systel stock appreciated by Rs 6.30 (or 14.3 per cent) to settle for the day at Rs 50.35. The trading volumes in the stock spurted from 5,993 stocks on Friday's trading to 72,368 stocks during the day.

The Odyssey Technologies stock has been on an uptrend, with the stock appreciating by 20 per cent to rest at Rs. 21.97. The trading volumes doubled from 44,884 stocks on Friday's trading to 80,954 stocks during the day.

Among the non-technology stocks, the Henkel Spic stock was the prominent gainer with the stock gaining Rs 3.15 (or 9.9 per cent) to settle for the day at Rs 34.95. The trading volumes in the stock doubled from 1.62 lakh shares on Friday to 3.19 lakh shares during the day.

Fairly prominent stocks figured among the list of prominent losers. They were Sterlite Industries, CESC, Madras Aluminium, Punjab Tractors, Bharat Petroleum, Gujarat Ambuja Cements, Maruti and ONGC.

The Sterlite Industries stock declined by Rs 58.4 (or 4.61 per cent) to settle for the day at Rs. 1208.35. Compared to one lakh shares traded on Friday, the trading volumes in the stock declined to 68,056 shares during the day.

The other significant loser was CESC, with the stock shedding 3.5 per cent to close at Rs. 134. The trading volumes declined from 3.13 lakh shares on Friday to 2.06 lakh shares.

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