The Hindu Business Line : `Feel-good' factor fuels sentiment

Just as the opening day of the new fiscal, the last day of the fiscal 2003-04 also ended on a positive note, with the Sensex closing 70.16 points higher on Wednesday.

Click here for table

The uptrend has to be seen in the backdrop of an extremely bullish picture of the economy. In the third quarter of 2003-04, on a year-on-year basis, the gross domestic product registered a 10.4 per cent growth, up from 5.7 and 4.8 per cent in the first and second quarters. The fact that this growth rate was higher than all the other emerging economies appears to have rubbed off the feel good factor in the economy to the markets.

Of the BSE Sensex constituents, 28 stocks appreciated in value, while only 2 stocks logged declines. The stocks that lost value were ONGC and Reliance Energy.

The S&P CNX Nifty also ended on a positive note, notching a gain of 47.75 points (or 2.69 per cent) to close at 1819.65. The telecom stocks were at the forefront of the rally, with Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (MTNL) being one of the prominent gainers, along with Bharti Tele-Ventures.

The S&P Nifty Junior also gained 2.45 per cent to close at 3475.10. Among the Junior Nifty constituents, the major gainers were GE Shipping (7.87 per cent) , Cummins India (7.22 per cent), Tata Teleservices ( 6.46 per cent), Jindal Vijayanagar Steel (6.10 per cent) and TVS Motors (5.93 per cent).

The significant losers during the day were Moser Baer (2.16 per cent), Apollo Tyres (1.97 per cent), Andhra Bank (1.78 per cent) and Aurobindo Pharma (1.75 per cent).

Practically all the software service stocks such as Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Satyam, CMC, and VisualSoft Technologies ended in the positive territory. They seem to have recovered from the weak dollar jitters, which they suffered on Wednesday.

Among other stocks, the significant gainers were a whole host of steel stocks such as Mahindra Ugine, Essar Steel, Jindal Iron and Bhushan Steel.

The other gainers were Aztec Software, Bata India, Emco, VXL Instruments, Glenmark Pharma and Bharat Earth Movers.

The Mahindra Ugine stock gained Rs. 3.80 (or 19.3 per cent) to close for the day at 23.40. The trading volumes in the stock shot up from 28,716 shares on Wednesday's trading to 66,899 shares.

The Bata India stock was also a prominent gainer, appreciating by Rs 6.35 (or 11.9 per cent) to settle at Rs 59.5. The trading volumes soared from 81,670 on Wednesday to 3.2 lakh shares during the day. The stock price rose despite the company recording a higher loss of Rs 26 crore for the year ended December 31, 2003 as against a loss of Rs 7.4 crore in the previous year. But the rise in net loss was attributable largely to one-time additional charges and lower income.

VXL Instruments gained Rs 2.45 (or 9.83 per cent) to settle for the day at Rs. 27.95. The trading volumes in the stock soared from 24,205 shares on Wednesday to 54,330 shares during the day. Bharat Earth Movers appreciated by Rs 13.35 (or 7.8 per cent) to rest for the day at Rs184.3. The trading volumes in the stock rose to 2.79 lakh shares (1.41 lakh).Among the prominent losers were Apollo Tyres, Greaves, VSNL, Moser Baer, Aurobindo Pharma and Federal Bank.