Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, May 03, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, May 03, 2002 |
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Markets
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Commentary Columns - Sensor Heavyweights gain as political tension eases B. Krishnakumar
EXTENDING the gains recorded on Tuesday, the BSE Sensex moved up further on Thursday. The easing of political pressure imparted positive market sentiment with the Sensex posting a rise of 34.4 points or 1.03 per cent to close at 3372.56. The rally in the Sensex was powered by index heavyweight Reliance Industries. The scrip posted a rise of Rs 5.90 to close at Rs 284.55. Infosys Technologies, Grasim Industries, Cipla and Ranbaxy Laboratories were other prominent gainers amongst Sensex stocks. The share price of pharmaceutical major Cipla managed to record a sharp gain for the second day in succession. The scrip logged a net increase of Rs 29.55 to settle at Rs 1,056.20. Close to 1.58 lakh shares of the company were traded as against 1.06 lakh shares traded on Tuesday. The share price of the company has recorded a gain of about 6.5 per cent in the last two trading sessions. ITC was a prominent absentee in the list of gainers among Sensex stocks. The stock could not extend the gains posted on Tuesday. After a spurt of about Rs 22 on Tuesday, ITC closed lower by Rs 2.65 on Thursday. Trading volumes were unusually low at 44,721 shares against 3.03 lakh shares recorded on Tuesday. Driven by company-specific developments, market interest was focused on select stocks. Besides Digital GlobalSoft, UTI Bank and Nestle India, quite a few PSU stocks attracted buying interest during Thursday's trading. Companies such as ONGC, HPCL, BPCL and IPCL were prominent amongst the gainers from the universe of PSU stocks. The share price of Digital GlobalSoft shot up by Rs 53.60 or 8 per cent to Rs 751.25. The rise in share price appears to have been triggered by reports that the last hurdle in the Compaq-HP merger was cleared on Wednesday. Digital GlobalSoft is a 51-per cent subsidiary of the US-based Compaq Computer Corp. After posting a sharp rally during the day, the share price of two-wheeler producers ended the day on a weak note. Buoyed by reports of a sharp increase in sales volume, the share price of two-wheeler majors - Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor shot up during the day. However, profit booking appears to have pushed these stocks into the negative territory towards the close. After touching a high of Rs 489.95, the TVS Motor stock closed near the day low of Rs 455. The scrip recorded a drop of Rs 5.30 to settle at Rs 457.40. Transaction volumes jumped to 44,792 shares from 11,574 shares recorded the previous day. Improved financial performance triggered a rally in stocks such as Nestle India and UTI Bank. Both these companies have recorded a sharp growth in earnings for the quarter ended March 2002. Nestle India posted a 50-per cent jump in post-tax earnings during this period. As a result, the share price of the company rose by Rs 14.80 to close at Rs 528.80. Trading volumes rose from 3,365 shares to 78,241 shares. Extending its recent upward march, the Asahi India Safety Glass stock posted a jump of Rs 28.75 on Thursday to close at Rs 398.75. The scrip has been moving up steady in the recent weeks, on the back of gradual build-up in trading volumes. Even on Thursday, trading volumes was unusually high at 41,465 shares when compared to 250 shares recorded the previous day.
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