The Hindu Business Line : Old economy stocks back in recokning

AFTER declining by over 215 points in three successive trading days, the Sensex staged a modest comeback, appreciating by 68.84 points (or 1.45 per cent) to close above the 4,800-mark at 4814.85 points.

Shrugging the bearish phase, the Sensex opened for the day at 4,696.51 points, which was also the low for the day and touched a high of 4,824.03 points, before closing marginally higher than 4,800 points.

In the 30-share Sensex, 25 stocks advanced in value, while only 5 logged declines. Among the sectoral indices, the lone sector that outperformed the Sensex was BSE IT. The other gainers were BSE - PSU Index - 1.29 per cent and Bankex- 1.27 per cent.

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The Budget session of Parliament is to begin on July 5 and the Union Budget will be presented on July 8.

The S & P CNX Nifty also marched up by 19.65 points to close just above 1,500 points. Among the top five gainers were Tata Power, Punjab National Bank, Tata Steel, Oriental Bank and Sun Pharma. The top five losers were Dabur, Hindustan Petroleum, Tata Chemicals, Cipla and VSNL. The CNX Nifty Junior also ended in the positive territory appreciating by 1 per cent to close at 2,889.95 points.

The top five gainers in the Nifty Junior were Union Bank, IDBI, Ashok Leyland, LIC Housing Finance and Canara Bank. The top five losers were Nicholas Piramal, Kochi Refineries, Wockhardt, MphasiS BFL and Concor.

The stocks from the Tata stable were among the prominent gainers during the day. The Tata Power stock appreciated by Rs 15.60 (or 7.02 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 237.10.

The heightened trading interest was evident from the rise in trading volumes from 29.70 lakh shares on Monday's trading to 32.37 lakh shares during the day.

Similarly, the Tata Steel stock, which had lost ground on Monday's trading, regained most of its sheen on talks about setting up of a steel regulator. It appreciated by Rs 14.95 (or 5.47 per cent) to settle at Rs 287.85. The trading volumes also surged from 45.38 lakh shares on Monday's trading to 61.22 lakh shares during the day.

The other gainer was Tata Motors. The only Tata stock that bucked the trend was Tata Chemicals. The stock declined by Rs 2.50 (or 1.91 per cent) to close at Rs 128.25. The trading volumes, however, declined marginally from 3.45 lakh shares on Monday's trading to 3.18 lakh shares during the day.

The other significant gainers during the day were Eveready Industries, Union Bank, Jindal Iron, Shaw Wallace, LML, IVRCL Infrastructures, Ashok Leyland, Saw Pipes, Century Textiles and Oriental Bank.

The Eveready Industries stock gained nearly 12.09 per cent to settle for the day at Rs32.45. The upward move in the stock has to be seen in the light of the reorganisation of the company into two entities - one focused on bulk tea and the other on the FMCG business. The board is to meet at the end of this month on June 28.

The Union Bank appreciated by Rs. 5.45 (or 10.45 per cent) to close at Rs 57.6. Compared to 11.58 lakh shares traded on Monday, the trading volumes soared to 28.54 lakh shares during the day.

The Ashok Leyland stock appreciated by Rs. 10.20 (or 4.94 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 216.35. The trading volumes were fairly robust, surging from 60,794 shares on Monday's trading to 2.45 lakh shares during the day.

The significant losers were Dabur (the first day of trading of its pure FMCG business after restructuring), TV 18, Hindustan Zinc, Hindustan Petroleum, Cipla and Hexaware.