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Suresh Krishnamurthy

STOCK prices continued to stay firm on Monday following the up trend in the last two days of the previous week. However, the extent of rise and the breadth of rally were less impressive. Only about 65 per cent of the traded stocks advanced compared to a proportion of about 75 per cent in the last two days of the previous week. In fact, large-cap technology stocks ended the day in negative territory. However, the Sensex closed the day with only a marginal gain of about 0.44 per cent.

Interestingly, the Nifty gained more than the Sensex ending the day with a 0.94 per cent gain. This was mainly due to the large increase in prices of non-Sensex stocks such as BPCL, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Shipping Corporation of India.

In fact, the day belonged more to stocks of public sector companies. The BSE-PSU Index gained 3.94 per cent. The rise in value of PSU stocks was also enough to propel higher indices such as the BSE-200 and S&P CNX-500. The price performance of mid-cap stocks was also muted with CNX Mid-cap 200 gaining only 1.12 per cent. ONGC was one of the major gainers for the day. The inclusion of the stock in Sensex may have been behind the surge in stock price. The stocks of Tata Power and Bharti Tele-Ventures, which too would become part of Sensex also ruled firm. However, the stocks of Wipro and HDFC Bank, which too will become part of Sensex, recorded losses. Stocks such as Colgate Palmolive, Nestle and Glaxo, which are to be excluded from Sensex, did not lose but gained marginally.

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The stock of IFCI also stayed firm. IFCI has confirmed that it is in talks with International Finance Corporation for an investment in IFCI. IFCI has, however, denied market rumours that it is taking over a small bank.

The stock of BSES spurted by nearly 5 per cent. The company announced the acquisition of a 48-MW power plant in Goa. The stock of another Reliance group firm IPCL also gained nearly 5 per cent. Reliance has refused to confirm or deny market rumours that it is eyeing a 51 per cent stake in IPCL. Trading ex-bonus, the stock of Hikal ended the day two per cent higher than the previous day's close.

Major gainers during the day included stocks such as Container Corporation, Greaves, MphasiS BFL and a host of oil industry stocks. Stocks such as HPCL, BPCL, IOC, Bongaigaon Refineries, Kochi Refineries, Chennai Petroleum and Mangalore Refinery registered gains. Banking stocks such as Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Bank of Baroda and SBI ruled firm. Stocks of non-PSU banks such as Kotak Mahindra, ING Vysya and UTI Bank also rose in value.

The stocks of dividend declaring companies such as Ind-Swift, Pantaloon Retail and Gammon India too advanced during the day. The stock price of Kopran barely changed even as the company announced a restructuring of its high-cost debts.

Stocks such as Kirloskar Oil Engines, Oriental Bank of Commerce, MICO, Lakshmi Auto Components, Welspun Stahl Rohren, J&K Bank and Bharti-Tele-ventures sailed to their 52-week highs.

Major losers during the day include stocks such as NOCIL, Pfizer, KEC International and Moser Baer. The stock of Tata Metaliks lost value during the day even as the company announced that a particular investor, Patton, has acquired more than five per cent of the paid-up equity.

The stock of Indo-Gulf Fertilisers declined marginally during the day. Templeton Asset Management has announced that it has divested its entire stake of 7.42 per cent held through various schemes in the company.

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