The Hindu Business Line : Markets stay jittery over steady FII inflows

IN yet another volatile trading session, the Sensex closed 1.72 points (0.03 per cent) lower at 6192.35 points. In marked contrast to Monday's trading, when late-hour buying in index heavyweights propped up the indices to positive territory, today's session witnessed indifferent activity in the last hour of trading. The intra-day trading swing at 95 points was, however, not as pronounced as 145 points on Monday's trading. The S&P CNX Nifty, however, ended on a positive note, gaining 1.15 points (0.06 per cent) to close at 1934.05 points.

Despite positive FII inflows of Rs 116 crore on Friday and Rs 15.8 crore on Monday, the markets continued to remain jittery over sustainability of these flows and moves by the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Moreover, the influence of the earnings season also had a strong bearing on specific index heavyweights.

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Among the BSE sectoral indices, the ones which outperformed the Sensex were BSE — FMCG, metals, auto and consumer durables. The sectoral indices which underperformed were BSE — IT, healthcare, oil and gas, and capital goods. Despite displaying volatility, the undertone in the markets remained bullish with an advances to declines ratio of 1.36, with 1,324 stocks appreciating in value, while 972 stocks logged declines.

Group-wise, while A and B1 were skewed in favour of advances, in B2, T and Z categories, the advances and declines were evenly matched.

Among the Nifty constituents, the key gainers during the day were Sun Pharma, Tata Power, HDFC, Hindalco and Tata Chemicals. The significant losers were Dabur, Zee Telefilms, Shipping Corporation of India, MTNL and Ranbaxy Labs.

The Nifty Junior also ended in the positive territory gaining 24.55 points to close at 4193.15 points. Among these, the prominent gainers were Moser Baer, Canara Bank, IDBI, Chennai Petroleum and IFCI. The significant losers were Kochi Refineries, Ashok Leyland, Corporation Bank, Pfizer and MphasiS BFL.

Moser Baer was one of the prominent gainers during the day's trading. The stock gained Rs 30.35 (or 14.2 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 244.35. The trading volumes in the stock rose from 2.27 lakh shares on Monday's trading to 3.43 lakh shares during the day. The uptrend has to be seen in the light of the technology memorandum of understanding signed by the company with IIT, Delhi, to work in the area of film sputtering technology suitable for optical storage devices.

The Everready Industries stock was another significant gainer, with the stock appreciating by Rs 7.40 (or 12.3 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 67.5. The heightened trading activity was evident from the volumes which soared from 1.03 lakh shares on Monday to 11.32 lakh shares during the day. The turnaround in the post-tax earnings, with a profit of Rs 15.96 crore in the quarter ended December 31, 2004, compared to a loss of Rs 10.25 crore contributed to this surge in interest.

The other stocks which were beneficiaries of good results were NDTV and Helios and Matheson, both gaining during the day's trading.

Among the significant losers were Kochi Refineries. The stock declined by Rs 34.1(or 15.45 per cent) to close at Rs 186.60. The selling pressure was also evident from the trading volumes which jumped from 66,540 shares on Monday's trading to 2.96 lakh shares during the day. The sell-off in the stock was attributable to the unfavourable exchange ratio fixed for its merger with Bharat Petroleum. The exchange ratio of 1:2.25 (or 4 shares of BPCL for 9 shares on Kochi Refineries) was against the company.

The Ranbaxy Labs was another stock which lost on account of poor earnings performance for the fourth quarter of 2004. The stock was down 5.56 per cent to close at Rs 1012.50.

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