The Hindu Business Line : Infosys survives BSE roller coaster

MARKETS witnessed a roller coaster ride, as the benchmark BSE Sensex closed the day on a negative note. The 30-stock index was down 12.13 points (0.23 per cent).

After opening firm at 5218.95 points, about 10 points higher than the previous closing, Sensex dropped to the day's low of 5189.29 points.

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The index steadily climbed after that and reached the day's high of 5233.32 points before noon. Post noon trading sessions, however, saw the index registering steady declines, before closing the day at 5198.72 points.

On the BSE, barring BSE TECk, most of the indices including BSE PSU, BANKEX ended the day lower.

On the NSE, the 50-stock index Nifty fell by 0.38 per cent to 1629.3 points.

Trading remained lacklustre, as 26.7 crore shares were traded on the NSE, as against 29.1 crore shares traded on Wednesday.

Of the total 2,143 stocks that were traded on the BSE, 921 registered gains, 1,156 declined in value and the rest remained unchanged. Among the Sensex constituents 12 stocks advanced and the rest declined.

Barring Infosys Technologies, most of the index heavyweights closed the day on a negative note. The stock of ICICI Bank fell by 3.2 per cent to Rs 262.15; Reliance fell by 0.8 per cent to Rs 472.

Among the Sensex constituents, stocks of Zee Telefilms, Tata Power, Satyam Computer, however, managed to register gains.

IT, Bank stocks rise: The stocks of several information technology stocks were up on Thursday.

The stocks of MphasiS BFL (9.6 per cent), KPIT Infosys (5.5 per cent), Hexaware Technologies (4.1 per cent) and Aztec Software (3 per cent) were among the gainers.

Coupled with increase in trading volumes several bank stocks registered gains.

The stocks of Karur Vysya Bank (6.4 per cent), Bank of Punjab (6.3 per cent), Federal Bank (2.8 per cent) and UTI Bank (2.8 per cent) were among the gainers.

Sharp gains were also seen in the stocks of Gujarat Apollo Equipments (18.8 per cent), Flex Industries (11.2 per cent), Shaw Wallace (9.7 per cent) and Petronet LNG (4.9 per cent).

Sugar stocks decline: Several sugar stocks witnessed decline in value on Thursday.

The stocks of Dhampur Sugar (9.9 per cent), Sakthi Sugar (9.3 per cent), Rana Sugars (7.4 per cent), Oudh Sugar (4.9 per cent) and Balrampur Chini Mills (3.7 per cent) were among the prominent losers.

Sharp fall were also seen in the stocks of Berger Paints (9.9 per cent), Hindustan Oil Exploration (6.6 per cent), Essar Oil (6.2 per cent), SRF (6 per cent) and Vesuvius India (5.1 per cent).

Stocks and news: ACC's cement dispatches, during the month of August 2004, grew by a modest 5.6 per cent, over August 2003. The stock fell by 1.2 per cent to Rs 267.9.

Sudarshan Chemical Industries is to enter into new agreements with Dainippon Ink & Chemicals, Japan and terminating the earlier (collaboration and shareholders) agreements. The stock rose five per cent to Rs 84.1.

SB&T International has bagged orders from two television shopping networks aggregating to $350,000. The stock was up 3.4 per cent to Rs 70.9.

Fine-Line Circuits is to consider buy-back of its equity shares. The stock rose by 7.5 per cent to Rs 8.71.

Orbit Exports plans to raise funds through rights issue, preferential issue or public issue. The stock rose by five per cent to Rs 9.96.

GTN Textiles has declared a lockout at its yarn processing unit at Shadnagar, Andhra Pradesh. The stock fell by 2.8 per cent to Rs 49.05.

The stocks that witnessed huge increase in trading volumes include SAIL, BF Utilities, IDBI, JK Synthetic and Maruti Udyog.