The Hindu Business Line : Infosys, HLL, Reliance lead Sensex into 10,000-mark

REPORTS of bird flu may have bulls stay off chicken for a while, but it has certainly not kept them away from the markets. After a rocky start that dragged the Sensex down by 85 points to the day's low, sentiment recovered and the bulls swung right back into action, taking the benchmark index past the 10,000 mark once again.

The Sensex closed at 10,079.30 points, gaining for the third consecutive trading session.

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The Nifty was up 24 points, ending at 3005.8 points. Leading the pack were the stocks of Infosys, Hindustan Lever and Reliance.

The positive sentiment was, however, not broad-based with most of the action focused on large-cap stocks; the BSE MIDCAP and BSE SMLCAP ended the day in the red.

Select sectors also received backlash from reports of birdflu virus and the dramatic fall in demand for poultry led to heavy selling of the stocks of Venky's India and SKM Egg Products. The stocks shed 9 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

Hotel stocks took a beating on the back of fears that a break out of the epidemic would slow down tourist arrivals.

The stocks of Asian Hotels, Oriental Hotels, and the recently listed Royal Orchid declined sharply.

While the stock of Indian Hotels also declined. The stock of Taj GVK, which derives majority of its revenues from Andhra Pradesh, where poultry is a major sector, remained firm.

The most significant loser on Monday was, however, the stock of HCL Infosys, which plunged 30 per cent.

Nokia has decided to distribute its mobile phones in India. Consequently, the distribution of Nokia phones, which has till now been handled exclusively by HCL Infosys, will now be split between the two companies.

Among the gainers of the day was the stock of Cipla, maker of the Tamiflu drug that treats birdflu. The stock gained 2.35 per cent to Rs 542.15.

The stock of Deccan Chronicle Holdings rose five per cent after it announced that it would sell its stake in book retailer Odyssey in May.

While stocks in the tourism sector traded weak, Jet Airways gained after it announced that it would raise $80 million from the overseas market to fund fleet acquisition.

It would also partner with Air Deccan, sharing passengers and technical services.

Tea stocks continued to witness a firm uptrend. Tata Tea, McLeod Russel and Williamson Magor were major gainers.

In the cement sector, Mangalam Cement and Dalmia Cement saw a sharp spurt in share prices.

FMCG stocks Hindustan Lever and Colgate gained smartly, as these companies are seen as the likely gainers from the recovery in rural markets.

Banking stocks were out of favour. The stocks of Centurion Bank of Punjab, HDFC Bank and UTI Bank were among the major losers.

Capital Goods stocks too had a bad day in the markets, with the likes of BHEL, Bharat Earth Movers, Bharat Electronics taking a beating. Greaves Cotton, Alfa Laval and LMW were other losers.