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B. Krishnakumar

The sharp recovery on Wednesday turned out to be a short-lived one with the market sentiment turning weak on Thursday. Close to 50 per cent of the 124-point gain recorded on Wednesday was wiped out at the end of Thursday's trading. The 30-stock BSE Sensex declined by 59.24 points to close at 4297.15. The S&P CNX Nifty mirrored the trend with a drop of 14.85 points to 1357.2.

The decline in the share price of Reliance Industries, Hindustan Lever and Ranbaxy inflicted major damage to the benchmark indices. The share price of Reliance Industries declined by Rs 9.25 to close at Rs 418.85. The stock had recorded a Rs 14.1 gain on Wednesday.

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Amongst the technology stocks that form part of the indices, Satyam and HCL Technologies were prominent losers. The share price of Satyam declined by Rs 9.05 to close at Rs 243.85. Infosys Technologies fared relatively better with a decline of Rs 6.55.

The market activity was, however, focused on the pharmaceutical stocks. After a sharp run-up in price in the first half of the trading session, a few stocks from the pharmaceutical sector surrendered most of the gains in the latter half of the day.

While quite a few from the sector managed to move up, Ranbaxy Laboratories and Wockhardt closed on a weak note. After touching a high of Rs 962, the share price of Ranbaxy Laboratories closed at Rs 939.15. This represents a decline of about Rs 10.4 from Wednesday's close.

On the other hand, stocks such as Cipla, Lupin, Glenmark Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma managed to end the day on a positive note. The share price Glenmark Pharma shot up by 7.16 per cent or Rs 27.3 to close at Rs 408.3. Transaction volumes increased to 20,354 shares from 15,957 shares recorded the previous day. Reports that the company has entered into a tie-up with Apotex Inc, Canada, for supply of bulk drug, appears to have imparted positive market sentiment. Lupin was another top gainer on reports that it has received US FDA approval to sell injection of Cefataxime. The stock gained Rs 35.4 to close at Rs 472.85. Trading volumes almost halved to to 8.66 lakh shares from 16.14 lakh shares recorded the previous day.

Mid-cap stocks such as Aftek Infosys, United Phosphorous, Bombay Dyeing and Titan were other prominent gainers of the day's trading. The share price of United Phosphorous increased by Rs 15.85 to Rs 408.5 on the back of a rise in trading volume to 2.74 lakh shares from 1.33 lakh shares.A sharp increase in trading volume witnessed in stocks such as Bombay Dyeing, Nocil and Tata Teleservices. The share price of Bombay Dyeing increased by Rs 3.55 to Rs 74.25. Trading volumes spurted to 2.28 lakh shares from 47,811 shares recorded the previous day.

After a sharp run up in the recent weeks, the share price of Jubilant Organosys declined by Rs 16.95 or 4 per cent to Rs 418.9. Trading volume increased to 26,159 shares from 18,548 shares. The stock has appreciated by 60 per cent from the closing price of Rs 262 recorded on September 1.

The share price of Himachal Futuristic dropped by 20 per cent to end the day at Rs 17.75. Trading volumes saw a sharp spurt to 167.7 lakh shares from 41.29 lakh shares recorded on Wednesday. The stock has dropped by about 50 per cent in the last six trading sessions. Himachal Futuristic stock was shifted to the trade-for-trade segment recently which appears to have brought about the fall.

The likes of Geometric Software, Nirma and Hero Honda were other prominent losers of the day. The share price of Geometric Software dropped by 3.6 per cent to close at Rs 433.45. Trading volume dropped to 1.08 lakh shares from 1.61 lakh shares.

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