The Hindu Business Line : Snail-paced Sensex breeches 5,300 mark

THE trading on Wednesday was no different from the trend that has been prevalent in the past few days. While the benchmark indices recorded marginal gains, the bulk of the market activity was centered on mid-cap stocks and select companies from the large-cap space.

After edging past the 5300-mark, the BSE Sensex closed at 5298.16. This represents a rise of 33.49 points over Tuesday's close. The S&P CNX Nifty posted a rise of 6.1 points before settling at 1656.26.

HDFC, Cipla, Grasim and HDFC Bank were the top gainers from the stocks that form part of the index. HDFC posted a rise of Rs 20.55 to close at Rs 589.10. After lying low for a while, the share price of Cipla shot up by 6.6 per cent to Rs 249.40.

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Reliance Industries, ONGC and Ranbaxy were the major losers among the index stocks. The share price of Reliance declined by Rs 2.25 to Rs 482.50 while the ONGC stock fell Rs 6.90 to Rs 704.45.

In an otherwise listless trading environment, the stocks from the cement and pharma sector managed to record sharp gains. Along with Grasim, cement stocks such as Gujarat Ambuja Cements, ACC, India Cement and Mangalam Cement ended the day on a positive note.

The share price of Mangalam Cement posted a 6.2 per cent gain to end the day at Rs 54.25. From 84,298 shares recorded on Tuesday, trading volumes spurted to 2.32 lakh shares on Wednesday. A similar trend was evident in the case of India Cement as well. The stock rose 4.3 per cent while trading volumes zoomed to 8.5 lakh shares from 3.51 lakh shares.

Apart from Cipla, Divi's Labs, Torrent Pharma and Neuland Labs were among the prominent gainers from the pharma sector. The share price of Neuland Labs increased by 9.2 per cent to settle at Rs 217.45. The trading volumes jumped to 88,769 shares from 25,985 shares.

The stocks from the agro-chemicals industry appear to be attracting investor interest if the recent trading pattern is any indication. The share price of United Phosphorous, Rallis India, Excel Crop Care and Monsanto Chemicals has recorded significant gains in the recent weeks. This trend was evident during Wednesday's trading.

Rallis India's share price spurted by Rs 12.85 to close at Rs 118.30. Trading volumes spurted to 3.96 lakh shares from 1.5 lakh shares traded on Tuesday.

The market addiction for mid-cap stocks was evident on Wednesday as well. Quite a few mid-cap stocks including Kopran, L.G. Balakrishna Brothers, Elgi Tyres and Munjal Showa managed to record sharp gains during the day's trading. Reflective of the growing market interest, the rise in share price in these stocks was also accompanied by a sharp increase in trading volumes as well.

The Munjal Showa stock posted a 10 per cent rise to Rs 225.20. Compared to 5,832 shares traded on Tuesday, the transaction volumes rose to 12,832 shares on Wednesday.

With the sharp rise on Wednesday, both TTK Prestige and Flex Industries consolidated the gains recorded over the past few days. The share price of TTK Prestige increased by 10 per cent to Rs 29.5. Trading volumes spurted to 1.37 lakh shares from 83,097 shares recorded the previous day. The stock has posted 74 per cent rise in price this month.

The share price of Flex Industries increased by 14.3 per cent to Rs 50.55. Trading volumes zipped to 5.87 lakh shares from 83,783 shares recorded the previous day. The share price of the company has logged a 30 per cent gain this month.

The likes of BASF India, Jyoti Structures, Morarjee Goculdas and Lakshmi Machine Works were prominent among the losers of the day. The share price of Lakshmi Machine Works declined by Rs 75.20 to Rs 7,267. Trading volumes dropped to 167 shares from 344 shares.

The share price of Morarjee Goculdas dropped by 4 per cent to Rs 69.30. Trading volumes fell to 39,342 shares from 89,431 shares.

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