The Hindu Business Line : Rally continues for second day

STOCKS remained firm for the second successive day on Wednesday with the BSE Sensex trading higher than the close on Tuesday through out the day's session. In the afternoon session, Sensex dipped to about 5,648, just a point higher than Tuesday's close but bounced back to close 5,686 ending the day with a gain of 0.7 per cent.

The Nifty Index was slightly stronger and ended the day with gains of 0.9 per cent. Mid-cap stocks were even more in demand with CNX Midcap 200 gaining one per cent.

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Stocks from steel, cement and auto hogged the trading spotlight. Steel sector companies such as Uttam Galva, Bhushan Steel, Kalyani Steel and Essar Steel were among the top gainers for the day. Other stocks such as Ispat Steel, Tata Steel, Jindal Iron and SAIL also remained firm.

In cement, Grasim and ACC led the pack. The robust growth in earnings reported by ACC also appears to have boosted sentiment.

Apart from ACC, companies such as Dabur India, Union Bank of India, UCO Bank and Four Soft made earnings announcement. The stock of Dabur India and Union Bank of India suffered losses. Union Bank of India's stock price slumped by 6 per cent. Stock prices of UCO Bank and Four Soft firmed up. The stock of Four Soft gained 10 per cent.

Major gainers during the day included stocks such as Dai Ichi Karkaria, State Bank of Travancore, Balkrishna Industries, Thirumalai Chemicals, SPL and Shasun Chemicals. Dai Ichi Karkaria clarified to the stock exchange that it is developing the land in Thane. The stock gained 5 per cent.

The stocks of State Bank of Travancore and Thirumalai Chemicals were boosted by announcement of generous dividends. The stock of SBT gained 5 per cent and took up with it the stock of State Bank of Bikaner. The stock of Thirumalai Chemicals surged 7 per cent. The stock of Balkrishna Industries, which announced that a strike in its auto tyre plant had been withdrawn, gained 5 per cent.

Shasun Chemicals, whose stock gained 8 per cent, announced that it would be spending Rs 125 crore as capital expenditure over the next three years. The stock of SPL, the tile major, also gained 5 per cent. The company, however, clarified during the day that it is not setting up a new plant in Andhra Pradesh.

A number of mid-cap IT companies also gained strength. Stocks such as iGate Global, Kale Consultants and KPIT Infosystems spurted up by 10 per cent.

Oil sector stocks such as Chennai Petroleum, Kochi Refineries, HPCL and IOC also remained firm.

A number of sugar company stocks lost value. Stocks such as Balrampur Chini, Bannari Amman Sugars and Bajaj Hindustan lost value. The stock of Balrampur Chini lost 6 per cent. Banking counters were mixed with a number of stocks such as ICICI Bank, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, UTI Bank and Corporation Bank losing ground even though others such as Allahabad Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce recorded gains.

Major losers included stocks such as Financial Technologies, Jayshree Tea, Amtek Auto, Gillette, Zee Telefilms and Kopran. The stock of Financial Technologies shed 4 per cent. e.

In the consumer goods sector, apart from Jayshree Tea and Gillette, stocks such as GlaxoSmiKline Consumer, Heritage Foods and Wimco also lost value.