The Hindu Business Line : Anxiety over CMP makes markets cautious

EVEN though the announcement of the Common Minimum Programme of the Congress-led Government was scheduled to take place half-an-hour after the markets closed, it did cast a shadow over market movement; trading on Thursday was marked by volatility, also aided in part by the settlement of the futures and options contracts for the month of May.

The Sensex ended the day at 5058.55 points, a drop of 23.5 points compared to its close on Wednesday; the Nifty ended at 1586.40 points, losing 12.40 points in the process. With Thursday's drop, the markets have ended lower for the third day in a row.

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Intra-day movement of the Sensex did appear to suggest that the market was searching for direction; the Sensex traded below its close on Wednesday for the best part of the trading day, barring an hour in the post-noon session when the markets moved up by about 40 points over its previous close. However, these gains were given up rapidly, as nervousness came into play in the run-up to the market's close resulting in a close in negative territory.

Of the stocks within the Sensex, the bearish undertone was evident, as 19 of the 30 stocks ended the day lower; prominent among these stocks were Reliance, ONGC, Tata Steel and Tata Motors. MTNL continued to slide after the announcement on Wednesday by the Minister of Communications and IT, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, that it would not be considered for a stake sale; the stock shed Rs 1.95 to Rs 120.55 on the back of trading volumes of four-and-half-lakh shares.

It turned out to be a rather favourable day for the tech majors within the Sensex — Wipro and Infosys — as they bucked the bearishness to end higher. A couple of other stocks that ruled firm ahead of their earnings declaration on Friday were Dr Reddy's Labs and ITC. Banking giant SBI, which, too, is putting out its earnings card on Friday, however, saw its stocks end the day lower at Rs 530.9.

Quite a few stocks that are outside the Sensex were buzzing around, though. Bharat Gears was one stock that moved up by 20 per cent on the back of a sizeable jump in trading volumes. Compared to about 6000 shares traded on the counter on Wednesday, trading interest spurted to about 38,000 shares. The stock settled for the day at Rs 25.80.

Aptech was another stock that surged by close to 20 per cent; the move was also backed by a tripling in trading volumes at close to seven-lakh shares. The stock finished at Rs 44.25.

Engineering major Thermax, which declared numbers on Wednesday, was another stock that moved up smartly; the stock rose by Rs 23.25 to settle at Rs 405.15, even as trading volumes on the stock remained at about 5,000 shares.

IPCA Labs put on Rs 22.80 to end at Rs 662.65 on the back of the news that it had received the US Food and Drug Administration approval to sell four of its products in the lucrative US market. Sticking to the pharma sector, Matrix Labs and Sun Pharma (which went ex-bonus effective Thursday) also posted noteworthy gains.

A few other stocks that ended higher included Bank of Rajasthan, Power Trading Corporation, Crest Communication, Finolex Industries, iGate Global and Pritish Nandy Communications.

Moving on to stocks that ended on the losing side, Shipping Corporation registered a drop of Rs 5.85 to settle at Rs 94.1, reacting to the announcement made by the Minister for Surface Transport, Mr T.R. Baalu, that he was not considering privatising it. About 12 lakh shares changed hands on the counter.

Hughes Software, Hindalco Industries, Aventis Pharma, Chennai Petroleum, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce were a few other prominent stocks that ended in negative territory.