The Hindu Business Line : Hindalco, Reliance help index end positive

THE trading activity was lacklustre during Wednesday's trading. The benchmark indices were little changed in relation to the previous day's close. After opening on a strong note at 6594.39, the BSE Sensex moved past the 6600-mark during the day.

The index, however, surrendered the gains as the day progressed and closed at 6567.94. This represents a modest gain of 4.46 points. The S&P CNX Nifty closed at 2069.6 as against the previous day's close of 2071.35.

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Hindalco Industries was the top gainer from the set of stocks that constitute the index. The share price moved up by Rs 46 and settled at Rs 1413.9. Infosys Technologies and Reliance Industries were the other prominent gainers amongst the index stocks.

The weak trend in ONGC, BHEL, Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro was instrumental in pulling down the indices. The share price of ONGC dropped by Rs 10.95 to close at Rs 813.45. The softening trend in price of crude oil in the international market appears to have affected sentiment towards the stock.

The stocks from the software sector were the ones that attracted market interest during the day. Including Infosys, quite a few software stocks closed on a positive note. Major gainers include Satyam Computer, TCS and KPIT Infosystems.

In an otherwise dull environment, companies such as Aztec Software, Gujarat NRE Coke and Punjab National Bank logged handsome gains. The rally in these stocks was also accompanied by a sharp rise in trading volume.

In comparison to the Tuesday's close of Rs 63, the share price of Aztec Software recorded a gain of 9 per cent to close at Rs 68.75 on Wednesday. From 45,976 shares, trading volume shot up to 2.65 lakh shares. After being confined to a narrow trading range for a while, the market interest appears to have resurfaced in the counter on Wednesday.

The recent upward move in the Gujarat NRE Coke stock was extended Wednesday's trading as well. The share price gained Rs 10.9 or 6.2 per cent before settling at Rs 187.3. Trading volumes more than doubled to 9.3 lakh shares from 4.3 lakh shares recorded the previous day. The stock has posted as 47 per cent gain this month.

Continuing the recent rally, the Mid-day Multimedia stock was locked at the 20 per cent upper circuit limit at Rs 70.6 on Wednesday. Trading volumes were down at 7.01 lakh shares as against 29.3 lakh shares recorded on Tuesday. The trading volumes were down owing to the stock getting locked at the circuit filter limit. The share price has gained 77 per cent this month.

A marked increase in trading activity was evident in stocks such as Neyveli Lignite, Jyoti Structures, Welspun Gujarat and Agro Tech Foods. The share price of Neyveli Lignite recorded a 4.5 per cent gain to close at Rs 71.4. The pick up in trading volumes was, however, more pronounced with 14.4 lakh shares traded during the day as opposed to 2.4 lakh shares traded the previous day.

Buying interest was evident in the Jyoti Structures counter on reports that the company has bagged orders worth Rs 78 crore from PowerGrid Corporation. The stock closed at Rs 151.55, up Rs 11.85, from Tuesday's close of Rs 139.7. Trading volumes saw a massive jump to 3.25 lakh shares from 20,649 shares.

It was a case of a mixed bag as far as the mid-cap stocks were concerned. While a few stocks recorded gains, quite a few were pushed to lower levels on Wednesday. The list of losers includes Sintex Industries, Ind-Swift Labs, Bharat Forge and Indian Hotels.

While the share price of these companies closed on a weak note, the fall was on accompanied by higher trading volume. There was a sharp fall in trading volume in most of the stocks that logged declines on Wednesday.