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Krishnan Thiagarajan

FUELLED by a rally in software and select pharma stocks, the BSE Sensex closed in the positive territory. However, it ended with only marginal gains of 6.73 points (or 0.16 per cent) at 4212.29 points.

While the new economy stocks were the flavour of the market for the day, the old economy counters such as cement, automobile and steel slipped. Buoyed by overnight gains in the Nasdaq Composite Index, software stocks across the board - frontline, second and third rung stocks - soared during the day's trading with robust trading volumes.

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Market sources also accounted for the gain in technology stocks to National Stock Exchange's decision to introduce Futures and Options in the CNX IT Index from Friday. Since this was also the day of expiry of the August contracts in the derivatives segment, quite a few old economy stocks have come under selling pressure. The S & P CNX Nifty ended with a minuscule gain of 0.75 points (or 0.06 per cent) at 1341.05 points.

In the 30-share Sensitive Index, the advances to declines were almost evenly matched, with 14 stocks advancing while 15 lost value. Among the heavyweights that gained were Infosys Technologies, ITC, Ranbaxy Labs, Hindustan Petroleum and HDFC. The prominent ones that shed value were Hindustan Lever, State Bank of India and Tata Steel.

The Sensex opened for the day at the 52-week high of 4256.07, which was also the high for the day, before touching a low of 4179.33 points. For the market as a whole, the declines outpaced advances, with 1112 stocks shedding value while 939 stocks recorded gains. The software stocks hogged the limelight during the day's trading. Stocks from this sector of all hues and colours ended in the positive territory. The sector which has hardly participated in the bull run finally had its day under the sun. The software stocks which soared during the day were Hexaware Technologies, Mastek, VisualSoft Technologies, Geometric Software, Polaris Software, HCL Technologies and Satyam Computers.

Outside this basket, the gainers were Tata Infomedia, Mukta Arts, petroleum stocks such as Bongaigaon Refinery, Kochi Refineries and pharma stocks such as Morepen Labs, Aurobindo Pharma and AstraZeneca pharma.

Riding on robust volumes, the Hexaware Technologies jumped by Rs 38.45 (or 19.2 per cent) to settle for the day at 238.6. The trading volumes in the counter soared from 6 lakh shares on Wednesday's trading to 16.55 lakh shares during the day's trading. The prominent gainers were Mastek up by 13.07 per cent, VisualSoft 12 per cent, Geometric 11.4 per cent and Polaris 11.3 per cent. Almost all the software stocks witnessed robust trading volumes.

In the homestretch to the earnings announcement on September 12 for the full year, HCL Technologies stock appreciated by Rs 15.8 to rest at Rs 188.40.

The trading volumes in the stock vaulted from 3.88 lakh shares on Thursday to 11.52 lakh shares during the day.

Stocks from the pharma sector added some pep to an otherwise lacklustre day. The Morepen Labs stock marched up by Rs 1.29 (or 9.96 per cent) to settle for the day at Rs 14.24.

The stock has been marching up steadily in recent times. However, trading volumes dipped marginally to 45.56 lakh shares during the day as compared to 47.66 lakh shares.

The losers were littered with stocks from the steel and cement sectors. Some of the stocks which shed value in the steel sector were Bhushan Steel, Essar Steel, Tata Steel and Steel Authority of India. The losers among cement stocks were Gujarat Ambuja Cement, India Cements and ACC.

And finally from the automobile sector, some of the losers were Ashok Leyland and Mahindra and Mahindra.

Outside these three sectors, the stocks which lost value were CESC, Finolex Industries, Century Enka and Jaiprakash Industries.

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