The Hindu Business Line : Infotech, bank stocks lead recovery

THE stock markets, which plunged sharply on Thursday, rose on Friday and ended the dayin the positive territory. The Sensex gained by 28.50 points to close at 5443.44 points, up from 5414.94 points. The Nifty rose by 8 points to close at 1725.10, up from 1716.65 points.

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The Sensex has witnessed volatile activity, plunging by more than 100 points twice during the week. The benchmark, however, began on a strong note on Friday. It witnessed some selling pressure in the earlier sessions, which drove it to the negative territory. However, bargain hunting followed, and the benchmark index crept up to end the day in the positive territory.

Among the stocks traded in the exchange, about 40 per cent advanced. The activity seemed to be predominantly in the large-cap stocks. While technology stocks led the gains, other gainers on Friday included Bajaj Auto, HLL, GlaxoSmithKline and Reliance Energy while prominent losers were Bharti Tele, MTNL, ICICI Bank, Cipla and Maruti Udyog.

The tech stocks were in the limelight with the BSE-IT index gaining by 2.25 per cent. Infosys, MphasiS BFL, Satyam Computer and Polaris Software were major gainers. Infosys, which had plummeted by 2.14 per cent on Thursday, gained sharply by Rs 261.85 to close at Rs 5,186.75. Geometric Software and Hexaware Technologies were also among the winners of the day.

FMCG stocks were a mixed bag. HLL rose for the second day in a row. The stock has been in the limelight following its recent announcements to cut detergent prices. However, investors seem to be displaying buying interest in the stock yet again. The stock ended the day at Rs 147.9 up by Rs 3.1. Other gainers were Nirma, P&G, Pidilite, Colgate and Dabur.

Telecom stocks, which had opened on a strong note, succumbed to selling pressure in the later sessions and ended the day weak Bharti Tele-Ventures fell Rs 6.5 to close at Rs 135.30. VSNL fell marginally despite news of its acquisition of the narrowband and broadband of Dishnet's ISP division for a consideration of Rs 270 crore. Tata Teleservices also gained on the news that it has signed an agreement with Qualcomm for the use of Push-to-talk tool.

Media stocks were also among the gainers of the day. Prominent gainers were Balaji Telefilms, Mukta Arts, Pritish Nandy Communications, Television 18 and TV Today. Balaji Telefilms gained Rs 4.7 to close at Rs 83.35.

Bank stocks, which have been gaining for the last two days, continued their uptrend. The gains were prevalent particularly among the public sector stocks. Gainers included Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank, Punjab National Bank, SBI and Union Bank. Vijaya Bank, which plans to raise more than $50 million from the overseas market, gained by Rs 1.1 to close at Rs 58.05. ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were prominent losers.

Pharma stocks ruled strong on Friday. Aventis Pharma continued to gain on the back of its posting good earnings numbers. Glaxo emerged a major gainer on the back of its merger with Burroughs Wellcome, with the swap ratio being in favour of the former. The stock appreciated by Rs 12.9 to close at Rs 607.15.

In the F&O segment on the NSE, the most active stocks on Friday's trading were March contracts of Nifty, Reliance, Satyam Computers, Tata Steel, Infosys and HLL. The decline in the overall open position in these contracts and the rise in prices indicate covering of short positions. For instance, The March futures of Tata Steel gained about Rs 5.10; the open interest declined by more than 4 per cent. But, the overall turnover declined further on Friday. The turnover, which had been more than Rs 13,000 crore at the start of the week, has dipped to about Rs 10,000 crore by the end of the week.