The Hindu Business Line : Sensex closes marginally up after yo-yoing

THE markets witnessed volatile trading activity on Tuesday as the benchmark BSE Sensex closed the day's trading marginally higher. The 30-stock index was up 6.3 points (0.11 per cent).

Sensex opened firm at 5937.46 points, about 11 points higher than the previous day's closing. It swung back and forth and remained volatile throughout the day. The index reached the day's high of 5972.94 points and low of 5866.62 points, registering an intra-day's swing of about 106.32 points. The hectic buying interest, during the last hour of the day's trading, enabled the index to close marginally higher at 5932.52 points.

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Barring BSETECk, several indices in the BSE including BSEPSU, BANKEX closed the day on a positive note.

On the NSE, the 50-stock index S&P CNX Nifty remained stagnant at 1880.75 points.

On the BSE, of the total 2,051 stocks that were traded, 952 gained, 998 declined and the rest remained unchanged. Among the Sensex constituents, 13 stocks advanced and the rest declined in value.

Index heavyweights, barring Infosys Technologies, closed the day on a positive note. The stock of Reliance Industries rose by 0.7 per cent to Rs 593.25. The stock of ICICI Bank rose by 3.7 per cent to Rs 345.75. The bank has plans to augment its capital base through an equity offering. The size of the offering is expected to be between Rs 3,000 crore and Rs 3,500 crore. The stocks of Hindustan Lever and ITC also edged up marginally on Tuesday. Infosys Technologies, on the other hand, fell by 2.6 per cent to Rs 5,506.8.

Other Sensex constituents that witnessed sharp drop in value include Zee Telefilms (3 per cent), BHEL (2.3 per cent) and Wipro (1.9 per cent).

Sensex constituents that registered sharp appreciation in value include Hindalco (2.7 per cent), BSES (3.5 per cent) and HDFC Bank (2.5 per cent).

Several bank stocks witnessed sharp surge in trading volumes. The stock of UTI Bank witnessed a sharp spike as it rose 10.6 per cent to Rs 158.6, accompanying trade volumes of 3.9 lakh shares. On the other hand, SBI fell by 1.8 per cent to Rs 612.35 on accompanying trading volumes of 39.5 lakh shares. Other bank stocks that registered huge surge in trading volumes include Vijaya Bank, UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank.

Stocks that recorded huge trading volumes include SAIL, GAIL, Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Maruti Udyog, GTL, ACC, IFCI, Polaris Software, Reliance Capital and IDBI.

Select information technology stocks witnessed buying interest on Tuesday. The stock of Satyam Computer rose 3.1 per cent to Rs 338.6 on accompanying trade volumes of 65.2 lakh shares. Other software stocks that registered sharp appreciation in value include Aptech, Mastek and Megasoft.

Stocks that registered sharp gain in value include Man Industries (9.9 per cent), Dhampur Sugar (8 per cent), IP Rings (8 per cent), SAW Pipes (6.7 per cent) and Vardhman Spinning (6.4 per cent).

Bharti Tele Ventures rose marginally by 0.4 per cent to Rs 138.10 accompanying a huge surge in trading volumes. The company has entered into a three-year agreement with the Swedish telecom major Ericsson to build, manage and maintain its telecom networks at an estimated cost of about $400 million. About 25.9 lakh of the company's stocks were traded over the counter.

The stock of Color Chips registered huge surge in trading volumes. The company has signed up an animation project with BKN International AG, Germany for producing a twenty-six half hour episode series named the "Legend of the dragon". The stock, however, remained flat at Rs 11.9.