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C. Raja Rajeshwari

THE stock markets were in the bastion of the bulls for the third consecutive day on Thursday and the BSE Sensex soared past the 5300-mark.

Opening firm at 5317.41 points, the Sensex held firm for most part of the day with an exception of two hours in early afternoon where it dipped lower than Wednesday's trading to touch a low of 5253.81 points. The Sensex closed at 5299.96 higher by 14.42 points.

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The Nifty gained 8.50 points to close at 1695.40 points rising from an intra-day low of 1678.35 points. Major gainer in both the indices was HDFC. The stock gained more than 4 per cent to Rs 613.45 riding on 7.84 lakh shares traded in the BSE and about 4.32 lakh shares in the NSE.

The other gainers among the Sensex constituents were ICICI Bank, HPCL, HDFC Bank, Hindalco, Wipro, SBI, ONGC and L&T.

In the Nifty, Oriental Bank, Gail and Britannia closed with smart gains. Some notable losers were Reliance, BHEL and Cipla. Zee Tele slipped down by 2.36 per cent to Rs 138.90; about 14.32-lakh shares in the BSE.

The broad market was slightly bearish with 1,078 stocks declining as compared to 1,033 stocks that advanced. Most of the declines were in the B1 group. The B1 group had 423 stocks declining out of the 673 stocks traded. However, out of the stocks that hit the upper circuit filter, the skewwas towards the B1, B2, T and the Z group of shares. Significant gainers on Thursday's trading were Thomas Cook, Bharat Forge, Ashok Leyland, TNPL, Apollo Tyres, Su-raj Diamonds and Harrison Malayalam. Energy stocks were star gainers on Thursday's trading. Select bank, engineering, and auto stocks also closed the day with gains. IOC gained 5.56 per cent to Rs 411.35 on back of its announcement that the company is considering a proposal of interim dividend. HPCL also made such an announcement. The stock closed the day higher at Rs 404.20, up by 3.28 per cent. This spurred of the interest in most energy stocks. Mangalore Refineries touched a new 52-week high of Rs 51.50. The stock closed the day at Rs 50.80 (higher by 1.8 per cent). About 36.57 lakh shares were traded in the BSE.

Other gainers were Kochi Refineries (up by Rs 17.65 to Rs 170.65), Bongaigaon refineries (higher by Rs 7.25 to Rs 87) and ONGC (up by Rs 11.2 to Rs 693.45) and Gail (up by Rs 3.3 to Rs 196.75). ONGC touched a new 52-week high of Rs 695.

Most of the PSU banks were gainers on Thursday pushing the BSE Bankex higher by 68.03 points to 2562.08 points. Allahabad Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Punjab National Bank, SBI, Syndicate Bank, Union Bank and Vijaya Bank closed in the positive territory. Among the private player, the gainers were HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Federal Bank. Bank of Baroda bucked the prevailing trend and closed marginally lower at Rs 183.20.

Notable gainers in the pharma realm were Lyka Labs, Morepen Labs, Elder Pharma, Natco Pharma and Jupiter Bioscience. Gujarat NRE Coke rose by 12.89 per cent to Rs 45.55 on the back of its announcement that the company is considering an amalgamation scheme of Aparna Project, a private company, with itself and also considering issue of bonus shares and dividend.

IVRCL Infrastructure gained 9.98 per cent to Rs 164.80 (new 52-week high). The stock gained on the announcement that the company was allotting equity shares to CVC International and Chrys Capital; also to issue warrants to promoters and options to employees.

In the F&O segment of the NSE, the turnover was lower than Wednesday's levels. Contracts of Nifty, Tata motors, Reliance and Tata Steel were the most active.

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