The Hindu Business Line : Volatile trading marks the day

MARKETS witnessed volatile trading activity as the benchmark BSE Sensex turned bearish again on Thursday. Sensex dropped by 36.13 points (0.63 per cent) to close at 5720.63 points.

The index opened marginally lower than the previous day's closing. After registering volatility during the first half of the day's trading, the index went up and reached the day's high of 5820.45 points. However, the index took a nosedive during the last one-hour of trading on the back of profit booking, and reached the day's low of 5648.14 points, registering an intra-day swing of 172 points.

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On the BSE, however, BSEPSU and BANKEX ended the day on a positive note.

On the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty fell by 17.7 points (0.97 per cent) to 1804.5 points.

On the BSE, of the total 2,039 stocks that were traded, 929 gained, 1,034 declined and the rest remain unchanged. On the Sensex, only 10 stocks appreciated in value, while the rest ended the day on a negative note. Index heavyweights remained a mixed bag. The stocks of Reliance Industries and ITC slipped into the red. On the other hand, Infosys Technologies, Hindustan Lever and ICICI Bank witnessed buying interest. Infosys Technologies rose 1.7 per cent to Rs 5.461.95.

Key losers among the index constituents include Larsen & Toubro, Tata Motors, Tata Power, Bharti Tele Ventures, MTNL, Gujarat Ambuja and Zee Telefilms. Zee Telefilms fell by 5.6 per cent to Rs 147.35. The company has plans to raise funds through debt or equity, in domestic or international capital markets.

PSL rose 5.6 per cent to Rs 72.45. This has to be seen in light of two large orders it bagged recently. The company has been awarded a $13.1-million contract for supplying steel pipes for a water supply project in Sultanate of Oman. The company has also been awarded a $ 3.2-million contract for supplying pipes for a gas transmission pipeline to be laid in Bangladesh.

Bombay Dyeing also rose sharply by 19.1 per cent to Rs 160.35. Other stocks that rose sharply include Uttam Galva Steel, Century Enka, Aftek Infosys, Hexaware Technologies and Mirc Electronics.

Matrix Labs fell by two per cent to Rs 1,297.75. After the close of the day's trading, the company announced that Danish pharma company Lundbeck, the innovator of the anti-depressant drug Citalopram, has withdrawn patent infringement cases against Ratiopharm and Desting Pharma in European courts. Matrix Labs expects this to result in a significant increase in its Citalopram exports to European markets because both Ratiopharm and Desting Pharma are among the major generic customers of the company for Citalopram.

Wockhardt rose by 6.5 per cent to Rs 745.5. After the close of the day's trading, the company announced that it has plans to issue bonus shares and opt for a stock split.

Coral Labs fell by 6.1 per cent to Rs 53.80. It has plans to set up a manufacturing facility at Daman for manufacturing capsules, tablets and liquids at an estimated cost of Rs 4 crore.

Radico Khaitan is yet another company that has plans for increasing its production capacity and adding up new capacity at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore. The stock was down 4.7 per cent to Rs 78.

Bank stocks including SBI, Vijaya Bank, UCO Bank and Canara Bank registered huge surge in trading volumes. Other stocks that registered large trading volumes include SAIL, Satyam Computer, Maruti Udyog, IFCI, ACC, Polaris Software, GAIL, GTL, Reliance Capital, Essar Steel, Indraprastha Gas and Essar Shipping.