The Hindu Business Line : Pivotals prop up Sensex to positive territory

The Sensex appreciated 11.69 points or 0.18 per cent to close at 6456.8, led by gains in index heavyweights such as HDFC, ONGC, Ranbaxy and L&T.

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The S&P CNX Nifty gained 7.20 points to close at 1993.2 points.

It was a volatile trading session. The Sensex opened weak at 6442.8, lower than its previous close. It then gained steadily, to touch its high of 6482.3 points.

In the post-noon session, the bears took control with the benchmark index losing ground quickly to fall into the negative territory. Buying in index heavyweights in the last hour of the session propped up the Sensex and it managed to end in the positive territory, for the first time in three days.

Of the 30 stocks constituting the bellwether index, only nine declined. The action was, however, mostly in the mid-cap and small cap space. Against the tepid performance of the large-cap indices, the CNX Midcap 200 gained 1.2 per cent.

Among the BSE Sector indices, the BSE Consumer Durables Index put on a stellar performance, rising 3.1 per cent. This was largely due to the stock of Titan, which logged a nine per cent gain.

Several engineering and capital goods stocks were in the limelight on Thursday. The stocks of Siemens, Bharat Earth Movers and Kirloskar Brothers were among the smart gainers. Other gainers include Alstom Projects, Havell's India, Kirloskar Oil and Engineers India.

Pharmaceutical stocks witnessed mixed trends. Stocks of Aventis Pharma, Aurobindo Pharma, GSK Pharma and Lupin ended the day higher, while those of Nicholas Piramal, Pfizer, Shasun Chemicals and Dishman Pharmaceuticals declined.

Some of the prominent mid-cap and small cap stocks that staged a good show include Igarshi Motors, Nilkamal Plastics, Saksoft, Tata Infotech, Gujarat Fluorochemicals, Alembic and GTN Textiles. Stocks that saw heavy volumes include Himatsingka Seide, Crew B.O.S, Havell's India and Solectron Centum.

Results and stocks: The declaration of fourth quarter earnings by companies such as Finolex Cables and Havell's India was well received by investors. The stock of Finolex Cables rose 2.3 per cent or Rs 4.8 to close at Rs 215.1 after it said that its fourth quarter profit had tripled.

The stock of Havell's India spurted by Rs 24.3 to close at Rs 375.8 on the back of a strong performance. The company is to also offer its shareholders one free share for every one held.

Despite a decline in performance, the stock of Chennai Petroleum managed to record a gain of Rs 2.75 to close at Rs 211.5.

Investors were however, less forgiving with the drop in profits of Adani Exports. The stock declined 2.5 per cent to close at Rs 61.5.

News and stocks: Strides Arcolab announced that it had signed a licence agreement with US-based KV Pharmaceutical company for exclusive marketing rights of 10 generic drugs in US and Canada. The latter is also to invest $11.3 million in the company. Reacting to the news the stock surged by about five per cent or Rs 9.9 to close at Rs 225.1.

Alembic announced on Wednesday after market hours that it had received approval from US and Europe drug authorities for its active pharmaceutical ingredient facility in Western Gujarat. The stock flared up 12 per cent or Rs 30.45 to close at Rs 295.8.

Following news of the Supreme Court's order, which permitted mills in Mumbai to go ahead with their real estate development plans, stocks of select textile mills such as Hindoostan Spinning and Mafatlal Industries, gained as much as 20 per cent.

The stock of Bombay Dyeing also rose sharply but lost steam towards the later half of the session and ended the day lower than its previous close.

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