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C. Raja Rajeshwari

DISPLAYING intraday volatility, the BSE Sensitive Index swung up 56.90 points to touch an intraday high of 4688.3 points and slipped 30.20 points to hit a low of 4601.2, before settling flat at 4632.9 points. Losers pipped gainers with 993 stocks declining and 874 stocks advancing on the BSE on Tuesday.

Profit booking was prevalent across sectors.

Major gainer in the Sensex was ICICI Bank. The stock closed the day at Rs 227.6, higher by Rs 15.60 or 7.36 per cent. The stock touched an intraday high of Rs 231.35. Trading interest in the stock perked up following the company's ADR, which represents two local shares, touched a year high of $12.44 on Monday on the NYSE.

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The other gainers were Tata Steel, HPCL, Tata Motors, L&T, Ranbaxy, Dr Reddy's, Grasim, Castrol India, Colgate, Cipla, BHEL, MTNL, ACC, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and GlaxoSmtihKline Pharma.

The broad-based Nifty closed the day marginally lower at 1477.9 points. The index was in the positive territory for most part of the day. But, the last hour selling in BPCL, Wipro, HDFC Bank, VSNL, Oriental Bank, GAIL India, Dabur, Tata Power and Digital GlobalSoft pulled the Nifty to close in the negative territory. Stocks such as Indian Hotels, Tata Tea, Tata Chemicals and Steel Authority were the major gainers sin Nifty.

The day proved to be a good day for hotel stocks. Indian Hotels has seen renewed interest post-reports of its move to acquire new international properties. The firm price trend has also been fuelled by the anticipation of good second quarter results. Indian Hotels closed the day higher by 7 per cent at Rs 295. The stock has gained Rs 22.3 in two trading sessions.

The smart gains sparked in its associate companies too. Oriental Hotels closed the day higher by 9.2 per cent at Rs 95 and Taj GVK Hotels marginally higher at Rs 73.

Other major stocks such as EIH gained Rs 3 to Rs 220 and ITC Hotels closed higher by Rs 2.6 to Rs 82.

Steel stocks also scored smart gains in an otherwise dull market. Tata Steel and Steel Authority closed on Tuesday with smart gains. Tata Steel firmed up 4 per cent to Rs 303.6 and Steel Authority gained 4 per cent to Rs 41.35. Other stocks such as Essar Steel, Ispat Steel and Jindal Steel also closed the day in the positive.

The BSE Bankex index closed the day higher by 24 points at 2267. Stocks that touched new 52-week high were Vijaya Bank, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India, State Bank of Mysore, J&K Bank and Oriental Bank. Though most of the banking stocks were trading firm in intra-day, they slipped into the negative territory at close. Some stocks that bucked the trend to close with their gains were Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank, Dena Bank, Vijaya Bank, IndusInd Bank and Kotak Bank.

The Reliance group companies touched new highs in the early trades. Reliance (at Rs 461.25) and BSES (Rs 413) touched their new 52 week high's. IPCL also touched its 52-week high of Rs 196.25. Reliance group has a 46 per cent in IPCL. However, in the latter part of the day all the stocks succumbed to profit booking. Reliance closed lower at Rs 451.6 (down by Rs 6.45) and BSES at Rs 406.9(down by Rs 1.8)

One of the major gainers was Agro Tech Foods, which gained 20 per cent to Rs 58.35. About four lakh shares were traded on the BSE. The stock has gained 32 per cent in two trading days. Stocks such as Bharat Earth Movers (Rs 203.70), Bharat Electronics (Rs 524.4) and Bongaigaon Refineries (Rs 91.75) touched their new 52-week highs but closed in the negative territory.

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