The Hindu Business Line : Sensex swings back on late-hour buying

TRADING in a narrow band, the benchmark indices managed to end in the positive territory on Wednesday. The BSE Sensex, which slid into the negative territory in afternoon trades, rose towards the close to end with 17.3 points gain at 5946.78 points. The index fell to a low of 5905.2 points in afternoon trades but buying support in the last one hour of trading in stocks such as Hindalco, Tata Steel, SBI, Grasim, L&T, Hindustan Lever and ACC reversed the downtrend.

The S&P CNX Nifty gained about 0.6 per cent to 1891.5 points. SBI and Nalco were major index movers.

Even though there was buying support in frontline stocks, the overall market sentiment was bearish. Most of the mid-caps declined. About 1,087 stocks declined while 848 stocks gained. Of this, most of the decline was in the B1 and B2 categories. CNX Midcap 200 of the NSE gained 0.47 per cent.

Click here for table

Aluminium stocks gained ground on optimistic price outlook. Hindalco gained Rs 54.4 to Rs 1385.4 after slipping into the negative territory in early trades.

Other sector that was in the limelight was cement; the cement stocks had a smart rally on news that prices may be raised. Grasim zoomed by 4.27 per cent to Rs 1154.75; ACC appreciated 3.9 per cent to Rs 275.20; L&T was up by 2.47 per cent to Rs 517.80; and Gujarat Ambuja gained 2.40 per cent to Rs 309.55.

Mangalam Cements rose 5.05 per cent to Rs 15.39 on news that Lafarge and a Bangkok-based broker have showninterest in buying the company's plant.

Hindustan Construction Co rose 2.32 per cent to Rs 112.3 after the company said that it has bagged an order from the National Highways Authority of India and its current order book position is Rs 4,109 crore including company's share in the integrated joint venture projects.

Jubilant Organsys touched a new high of Rs 1,015.90 during the day. The stock has been on a steady uptrend for the nine trading days.

Most of the banking stocks ended the day in the negative territory. The BSE Bankex ended the day lower by 1.68 per cent at 3058.89 points. Index heavyweight ICICI Bank, which has a 32.87-per cent weightage in the index, caused much of the damage. The stock was down by 7.98 per cent to Rs 318.15. The stock had touched its new 52-week high only the previous day. Earlier in the week, the bank had announced the equity expansion to the tune of Rs 3,500 crore, following which concerns of dilution of earnings have taken a toll on the stock on Wednesday.

All the other bank stocks barring a few closed the day with gains. Stocks such as J&K Bank (Rs 504) and Vijaya Bank (Rs 61.75) touched new 52-week highs.

Zee Telefilms rose by about two per cent to Rs 151.15 on news that the company is planning to raise long-term funds through ECBs.

Notable increase in volumes were in stocks of Tata Coffee, EIH Associated Hotels, Phillips Carbon, Gujarat NRE Coke, Satnam Overseas, Oriental Hotels, Cosmo Films, Bannari Amman Sugars and Ispat Industries.

Losers on Wednesday's trading were Satyam Computer, Reliance, Bharat Forge, Ashok Leyland, Titan, Container Corporation, IDBI, UTI Bank and Essel Propack.

In the F&O segment of the NSE, Nifty February futures were the most actively traded contracts. The contracts traded at a premium to the spot. Other actively traded contracts were Tata Steel, Tata Motors, SBI and Maruti.