The Hindu Business Line : Infosys, HDFC Bank share day's honours

Infosys was clearly in the limelight after its board approved a sponsored ADS (American Depository Shares) issue involving the conversion of about 16 million shares.

The move would benefit shareholders, as shares of Infosys trade at a premium of close to 50 per cent compared to its domestic market price. The stock surged past the Rs 2,000-mark on trading volumes of about nine-lakh shares.

The most interesting sector-specific price action was in banking. Stocks of private sector banks were in the limelight. HDFC Bank enjoyed one more day of sizeable gains. The stock has been on a relentless uptrend with FII interest a likely factor behind the rise. Post-trading hours, the company announced that it would consider raising $300 million in the form of an ADS offering. ING Vysya Bank and UTI Bank were the other prominent gainers in this space.

The other theme that was dominant in banking stocks was the firm undertone in the stocks of State Bank of India and its associates. State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Mysore ended day with sizeable gains.

The prices of a host of other PSU banks' stocks were, however, marked lower. The likes of Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and Vijaya Bank suffered losses that ranged between 1.3 per cent and 4 per cent.

The last mentioned lead the losers in the Junior Nifty basket. The only exception was Allahabad Bank, which notched up a gain of 6 per cent.

Blue Dart and Essar Shipping were driven in opposite directions by company-specific news; the Blue Dart stock continued its upward march as news filtered in of a change in ownership.

The DHL group is to gain control with the acquisition of a 68 per cent stake in the equity. It is acquiring the stake at a price of Rs 350 per share and an open offer is in the offing. The gap between the market price and offer price may narrow in near-term trading.

The markets have not taken kindly to the sale of a substantial part of the fleet by Essar Shipping, which had sold its five suezmax tankers for Rs 1150 crore and is now left with just a very large crude carrier and dry cargo carriers.

The stock was marked down sharply. The markets appear to have discounted the possibility of a sizeable dividend payout from the cash generated by the fleet sale.

It was an indifferent day for Ranbaxy Laboratories. The decision of Schwarz Pharma to discontinue Phase II trials on a molecule licensed to it by Ranbaxy has clearly been perceived as a setback, The stock shed 2.5 per cent.

Textile sector stocks had a good outing with established branded product-cum-fabric players such as Arvind Mills, Raymond and Zodiac Clothing sporting smart gains. The placement of equity with institutional investors at Rs 400 per share on a preferential basis by Zodiac Clothing appears to have been viewed positively by investors.

Engineering sector stocks, which have been on a bull orbit, took a breather. The likes of Alfa Laval, Atlas Copco, ABB, BHEL, Alstom Projects and Thermax ruled weak. Stocks such as Mercator Lines, Ondeo Nalco, Ind Swift, Mirza Tanners, L.G.Balakrishnan Brothers and Jaiprakash, which have exhibited momentum in recent trading, continued to notch gains.

Other prominent gainers were Tata Infomedia, Pudumjee Pulp, Colgate Palmolive, Asian Electronics, Financial Technologies, Skanska Cementation, CG Igarashi Motors, Abhishek Industries, Visakha Industries and Syngenta. Notable losers were Solectron Centum, Amtek Auto, Kochi Refineries, Nirma, Seshasayee Paper, Pearl Global, K Sera Sera, Asian Hotels, Indiabulls and Albright Wilson.