The Hindu Business Line : Large-caps drive rally

THE bulls continued their march on the bourses as the markets ended the day scaling yet another new high. While the benchmark Sensex was up 47 points, the Nifty ended with a gain of 11.4 points.

The markets opened on a flat note and witnessed volatility in the subsequent sessions.

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While the mid-cap and small-cap stocks failed to gather momentum, it was mostly the large-caps that helped the markets garner strength. Banking stocks continued to stay in the limelight after the central bank left the key rates unchanged. While the BSE Bankex shot up 2.1 per cent, the NSE Bank Nifty recorded a similar percentage gain.

The overall sentiment in the markets remained bullish. Twenty out of the thirty stocks constituting the BSE-30 advanced.

The rally in the banking stocks was more pronounced. However, disappointing quarterly results by Vijaya Bank and Canara Bank kept them out of favour.

FMCG stocks also saw good response on the back of monsoon's steady progress across the country. Bata, Britannia, ITC, Dabur India and Henkel Spic ended with respectable gains. However, Tata Coffee, Marico, Nestle and HLL came in for selling pressure. Tata Tea, which announced 91 per cent increase in its Q1 profits failed to cheer the investors as it registered a marginal dip in its share price.

While most of the frontline IT stocks shed value, there was widespread buying interest across the counters of second-rung stocks. Hexaware, Polaris, Ramco Systems and HCL Tech were significant gainers.

Most of the stocks in the metals space continued to shine on the back of renewed buying interest. SAIL was a prominent gainer whose stock shot up by 4.8 per cent. Essar Steel, Jindal Steel, Hindustan Zinc, Nalco and Vesuvius India ruled firm.

There was a heavy bout of buying activity among the pharmaceutical stocks. Dr Reddy's jumped 4.8 per cent after it announced that the profits rose for the first time in seven quarters. Aurobindo Pharma, Divi's Lab, Torrent Pharma and Ranbaxy also netted handsome gains.

SPL Industries rose 48 per cent in its trading debut lifted by demand from investors who missed the IPO. It closed the day at Rs 103.4.

Bharti Televentures flared up 3.1 per cent after its first quarter profits were up by 70 per cent.

VSNL moved up by 1.6 per cent after it is in agreement to acquire Teleglobe Holdings.

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