The Hindu Business Line : Renewed buying in frontline stocks

EXTENDING the gains made on Monday, the markets opened on a flat note, but turned volatile during the mid-noon session. Renewed buying in frontline stocks, the rally on global markets and active buying by FIIs and mutual funds boosted the market sentiment. Bullish metal, technology, pharma, FMCG and auto stocks helped the markets recover, as they closed the day with modest gains.

The Sensex opened at 6563 and fell to a low of 6522.8, but recovered strongly to close at 6565.4.The Nifty opened at 2016 and stayed range-bound during most of the day, as it closed 14.7 points higher at 2028.6.

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On the BSE index, the bullish sentiment was more pronounced as 17 stocks advanced, while 13 shed value. The BSE Small-cap index under-performed and ended the day in the red. Renewed buying in Wipro, SBI, Ranbaxy, Tata Motors, Maruti and Tata Power helped the markets net handsome gains.

The metals stocks, which witnessed severe selling pressure on Monday, saw fresh buying. Monnet Ispat was a significant gainer, which added Rs 8.7 to its stock to close at Rs 155.5. SAIL, Tata Steel, Lloyds Steel, Bhushan Steel & Strips, Hindalco and National Aluminium recorded smart gains.

IT stocks continued to be in the limelight, with renewed buying in frontline and second-rung stocks. Wipro, Infosys, Datamatics Technologies, TCS, Polaris Software Labs and Hexaware moved up. However, Satyam, Geometric Software and Ramco Systems traded weakly. The bulls prevailed in the consumer goods sector, as Alstom Projects, BEML, Thermax, ABB, BHEL and Alfa Laval notched up significantly.

There was significant action across auto and auto-ancillary stocks. Kirloskar Oil Engines flared up by Rs 55.2, while Tata Motors, Rane Madras, Asahi India, CEAT and Maruti also recorded sharp gains. However profit-booking in Bajaj Auto, Hero Honda, Amtek Auto and LML pulled the stocks down.

There was mixed trend among the pharmaceutical stocks. Ranbaxy Labs surged by Rs 21.9 after announcing that it would start selling its copy of Abbott Laboratories' antibiotic Bioxin in the US. The stock closed at Rs 1,002.4. Cipla, Sun Pharma, Matrix Lab, Novartis and Merck marched ahead, while Bal Pharma, Gelmark Pharma and Dr Reddy's suffered losses.

Select buying was seen among the banking stocks. State Bank of Mysore was a major gainer, which shot up by Rs 140 to close at Rs 2,400. Bank of India was up by 3.1 per cent. Others that gained notably were Allahabad Bank, Punjab National Bank and Indian Overseas Bank. ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank and HDFC Bank ended in the red.

The FMCG sector, which witnessed lacklustre trading on Monday, regained on the back of fresh buying. Jindal Photo was up by 15.8 per cent, while Marico, Tata Tea, Colgate, HLL, Britannia, ITC, Dabur and Nirma closed with modest gains. However, Shaw Wallace, McDowell, Nestle and Tata Coffee suffered sharp losses.

The markets failed to sustain the gains made in the oil and energy stocks on Monday, as HPCL, BPCL and Chennai Petroleum suffered losses.

The frontline cement stocks came in for selling pressure, as Grasim and Gujarat Ambuja were down by 0.3 and 0.9 per cent respectively. Madras Cements also ruled weak.

Company-specific stock action: Apollo Hospitals was up 0.5 per cent after the company announced an increase in its Q4 profits by 41 per cent.

Sirpur Paper Mills was down by 1.5 per cent. The company earlier reported a 67-per cent dip in its Q4 net profits.

Other notable gainers were Asian Paints, Balaji Telefilms, Container Corporation, Essel Propack, GE Shipping and Monsanto.

Those on the losers' list were Bal Pharma, Punjab Tractors, Bharat Forge, TVS Motors, Sesa Goa, Century Textiles and Mangalam Drugs.

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