The Hindu Business Line : Reliance Industries, IT stocks shine

THE market activity was distinctly listless during Wednesday's trading. Despite the flow of improved corporate performance, the benchmark indices were confined to a narrow range during the day.

The BSE Sensex was closed 5.59 points lower at 5070.29. Business volume dropped to Rs 1,877.3 crore from Rs 2,231.17 crore recorded the previous day.

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The S&P CNX Nifty reflected a similar trend. The index declined by 6.6 before settling at 1594.15. Transactions worth Rs 4,397 crore were transacted on Wednesday in comparison to Rs 4,935 crore the previous day.

Recovery in the price of Reliance Industries played a major role in helping the indices recover off the day's low. The share price of Reliance rose Rs 5.55 to Rs 470.5. Ranbaxy Laboratories, Satyam Computer and Infosys were the other major gainers amongst the stocks that form part of the index.

ONGC, State Bank of India, ITC and BHEL were prominent losers out of the 30 stocks that constitute the Sensex. The share price of ONGC dropped by Rs 17.4 to Rs 683.85 and SBI by Rs 9.25 to Rs 433.05.

Buying interest in the IT sector stocks was the prominent feature of the day's trading. Along with Infosys, Satyam and Wipro, quite a few stocks such as MphasiS BFL, HCL Technologies and SSI managed to settle at higher levels.

The share price of HCL Technologies increased by Rs 8.8 or 2.9 per cent to Rs 313.75. At 3.1 lakh shares, trading volumes were down marginally in comparison to 3.6 lakh shares recorded on Tuesday.

A sharp increase in share price accompanied by a spurt in trading volume was evident in stocks such as Balaji Telefilms, Essar Steel, Excel CropScience and Sri Adhikari Brothers.

After being on a downward trend for quite a while, the share price of Balaji Telefilms has ruled firm in the past couple of weeks. The stock gained 8 per cent on Wednesday to close at Rs 76.2. Trading volumes zoomed to 13.1 lakh shares from 5.1 lakh shares recorded the day before.

Companies from the banking, textile and cement sectors were prominent amongst the stocks that logged decline during Wednesday's trading. Apart from SBI, Bank of Baroda, Corporation Bank and Vijaya Bank were prominent losers from the banking industry.

Arvind Mills, Mahavir Spinning and Vardhman Spinning were major losers from the textile sector. The share price of Arvind Mills dropped by Rs 1.5 to Rs 72.35.

In the cement industry, top companies such as ACC, Gujarat Ambuja and Birla Corp ended the day on a weak note. Share price of Gujarat Ambuja dropped by Rs 4.2 to Rs 266.9.

The announcement of financial performance for the quarter ended June 2004 was the driving force behind the stocks such as Sesa Goa, National Aluminium, Orchid Chemicals and Dr.Reddy's Laboratories.

Sesa Goa's stock price shot up by 9.3 per cent or Rs 42.4 to close at Rs 497.5. Trading volumes increased to 5.5 lakh shares from 1.94 lakh shares recorded the previous day. For the three-month period ended June 2004, the company's net profit saw a manifold rise to Rs 68 crore from Rs 17.5 crore.

Helped by an 86 per cent increase in net profit for the June 2004 quarter, the share price of National Aluminium increased by Rs 4.75 to Rs 145.65. Compared to 2.2 lakh shares recorded on Tuesday, trading volumes were sharply higher at 8.61 lakh shares during Wednesday's trading.

The share prices of Dr.Reddy's Laboratories and Orchid Chemicals were pegged to lower levels owing to a drop in earnings for the June 2004 quarter. After reporting a 38 per cent drop in post-tax earnings, Orchid Chemicals' share price declined by Rs 6.65 to Rs 187.1. Trading volumes spurted to 2.18 lakh shares from 43762 shares.

Bogged by the drop in net profit for the quarter ended June 2004, the share price of Dr.Reddy's Labs dropped by Rs 14.95 to Rs 745.05. Trading volumes jumped to 1.41 lakh shares from 39559 shares recorded the previous day.