The Hindu Business Line : Sensex ends higher on a choppy day

MARKETS witnessed volatile trading activity on Friday, as the benchmark BSE Sensex closed the last trading day of the week on a positive note. The buying interest during the last hour of the day's trading saw the 30-stock index to surge by 50.54 points (0.89 per cent) to close at 5700.4 points.

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The index opened at 5632.13 points, about 18 points lower than the previous day's closing. The negative sentiments during the early part of the day's trading saw the index to reach the day's low of 5570.81 points. The strong buying interest in the key index heavyweights Infosys Technologies and ICICI Bank, during the last hour of the day's trading, saw the index to reach the day's high of 5735.94 points, in the process registering an intra-day swing of about 165 points.

On the BSE, barring BSE PSU most of the indices including BSE TECk, BSE 500 and BANKEX ended the day on a positive note.

On the NSE, the S&P CNX Nifty rose 6.8 points (0.38 per cent) to close at 1812.2 points. On the contrary, indices S&P CNX 500 and CNX MIDCAP 200 closed lower.

On the BSE, of the total 1,958 stocks that were traded, 729 appreciated in value, 1132 declined in value and the rest remained unchanged. On the Sensex, 20 stocks advanced and the rest declined.

Index heavyweights were a mixed bag on Friday. The stock of Reliance Industries and ITC ended the day on a negative note. On the other hand, the stock of Infosys Technologies, HLL and ICICI Bank ended the day on a positive note. The stock of Infosys Technologies rose 4.2 per cent to Rs 5,059.8. The stock of ICICI Bank appreciated 3.2 per cent to Rs 288.75.

The stock of Ranbaxy Labs rose 1.2 per cent to Rs 963.05. The company has launched its brand Forzest (Tadalafil) in India. Forzest is the most recently approved prescription medicine for the treatment of erectile dysfunction in men.

Other Sensex constituents that registered sharp buying interest include HDFC (2.8 per cent), Hindalco (2.8 per cent), Satyam Computer (3.4 per cent), HPCL (3 per cent), Wipro (2.2 per cent) and Gujarat Ambuja Cement (2.2 per cent).

Several information technology stocks ended the day on a bullish note. The stock of HCL Infosys, Hughes Software, Polaris Software, Satyam Computer, Wipro, NIIT and HCL Technologies ended the day on a positive note. International rating agency, Standard & Poor has recently lauded India's competitiveness in IT, BPO and telecom sectors.

The stock of Alembic rose 2.4 per cent to Rs 615.7. The company has approved the issue of bonus shares in the ratio of 2:1 and has fixed March 27 as the record date for this purpose.

The stock of Nicholas Piramal India fell by 2.4 per cent to Rs 762.75. The company announced that its pre-tax profit will be lower by Rs 50 lakh on the back of price cuts in number of bulk drugs and formulations.

The stock of Morepen Labs rose 4.6 per cent. The company has received a fresh approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, for its active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facilities at Masulkhana, HP.

Goldstone Technologies rose 5.4 per cent. The company has bagged a contract from a local Government in state of California for migration of their AS400 Systems to J2EE.

Coupled with huge surge in trading volumes the stock of Everest Industries gained 10 per cent to Rs 124.30. Other stocks that that registered huge trading volumes include SAIL, IPCL, Tata Steel, Maruti Udyog, GAIL, Tata Motors, SBI, Bharti Tele-Ventures and Indian Overseas Bank.