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C. Raja Rajeshwari

THE benchmark indices yo-yoed between the positive and the negative territories during Monday's trading. The Sensex closed marginally lower at 5131.54 points (down 0.18 points). The Sensex came off the day's high of 5163.01 points in early trades and gradually sank to a low of 5089.57 points; later bounced back recouping some of its losses.

The breadth of the market was positive. There was heightened activity in the B1-group. About 80 per cent of the 670 stocks in the B1 category appreciated in contrast with 64 per cent of the 194 stocks in the A-group. In the B2 category, about 408 stocks appreciated out of the 599 stocks.

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The Nifty closed in the positive territory at 1646.25 points (up 0.45 points) riding on the gains of Dabur, Gail India, GlaxoSmithkline Pharma, Britannia and Digital GlobalSoft. Sensex constituents such as ITC, Tata Steel, L&T, Ranbaxy, Dr. Reddy's and Bharti Tele also closed the day in the positive territory.

Bharti Tele, which has a 1.22-per cent weightage in the Sensex, gained 8.49 per cent to Rs 90.75 on the back of robust trading activity. About 43.08 lakh shares changed hands on the NSE while 23.34 lakh shares were traded on the BSE.

As far as the major losers in the Sensex, ACC was in the fore by shedding 3.32 per cent to Rs 218.80. Other stocks that closed in the negative were Reliance, Infosys, SBI, Hindalco, Satyam Computers, Bajaj Auto, BHEL, Tata Power, BSES and Zee Tele.

The flavour of Monday' trading was pharma, steel, PSU and tea stocks. Stocks such as Amara Raja Batteries, Jayshree Tea, Glenmark Pharma, Salora International and Stertile Optical had smart gains with increase in volumes.

Amara Raja Batteries gained 19.99 per cent to close at Rs 95.15. The stock evinced heightened activity with about 6.96 lakh shares traded on the BSE and 8.6 lakh shares on the NSE (higher by 20.03 per cent to Rs 95.30).

Housing finance stocks had their share of limelight too. LIC Housing touched a new 52-week high of Rs 210. The stock closed the day higher by 7.72 per cent to Rs 208.65. The stock has gained about 27 per cent over a month. Other gainers were SBI Home Finance, GIC Housing Finance, Dewan Housing Finance, CanFin Homes and HDFC.

Food processing stocks such as Satnam Overseas (up 9.91 per cent to Rs 79.40), Agro Dutch Industries (up 9.84 per cent to Rs 27.35) and Jayant Agro (up 5 per cent to Rs 54.50) hit the upper circuit filter. Satnam Overseas has gained 36 per cent over one month period.

IVRCL Infrastructure appreciated by 10 per cent to Rs 141.95 on the back of bagging a contract worth Rs 128.16 crore in Ambey Valley Sahara Lake City.

Ranbaxy rose by 1.74 per cent to Rs 1081.55. The company has received tentative approval from the Office of Generic Drug of the US Food and Drug Administration to manufacture and market Amoxicillin & Clavulanate Potassium tablets.

Champagne Indage gained 9.96 per cent to Rs 19.77 on its announcement of 10 per cent dividend for the year-ended March 31, 2003.

The banking stocks were out of favour on Monday's trading. The BSE Bankex closed the day in the negative territory in contrast to the BSE TECk and the BSE-PSU index, which closed with gains. The weakness in the Bankex was due to the selling pressure in Oriental Bank, Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank, Andhra Bank, Corporation Bank and SBI.

In the F&O segment of the NSE, the most active contracts were the December futures of Nifty and Tata Motors. Gail December futures gained 10.10 points to 195.35 points; open interest gained by 4.6 per cent.

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