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Nath Balakrishnan

AFTER the marginal decline it posted on Wednesday, the BSE Sensex smartly rebounded on Thursday, gaining 57.59 points to end at 5477.68. The upmove resulted in the benchmark index moving to a level not attained since May 10 this year.

Stocks belonging to the metal and the steel sectors remained in the limelight, with telecom stocks, too, joining the party.

On the BSE, advances outpaced declines by a ratio of about 2 to 1, underscoring the bullish sentiment.

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The Nifty moved up by 22.50 points to breach the 1700-point mark and end the day at 1705.70 points.

Within the Sensex, the rally was led from the front by ITC, which put on Rs 51.65 to end at Rs 1,142.20 on trading volumes of about two lakh shares. The stock has ruled strong ever since the Supreme Court ruled in its favour in the excise duty relief case. ITC's move contributed 16 points to the rise in the Sensex.

Oil major ONGC was another strong mover, gaining Rs 16.85 to settle at Rs 730.15. Firm trends in the prices of crude are expected to boost ONGC's earnings in the quarter ending later this month.

Steel major Tata Steel was another prominent gainer, as the stock put on Rs 7.85 to finish at Rs 273.4. Trading volumes on the counter were brisk at about 50 lakh shares. Other steel stocks outside the Sensex also displayed firm trends in price. A couple of such stocks were Steel Authority of India and Jindal Iron and Steel. The former gained Rs 1.95 to finish at Rs 41.2 on the back of trading volumes of about 2.2 crore shares; the latter rose by Rs 2.35 to close at Rs 276.95.

In the metals space, price trends in Hindalco continued to display robustness; the stock gained as much as Rs 29.55 to close at Rs 1,231 on volumes of about 80,000 shares. It has gained in excess of Rs 20 per cent, reckoned from this June-end when it was trading near the Rs 1,000 mark.

Other metal stocks that posted gains included Binani Industries, which gained Rs 4.5 to finish at Rs 27.05 on volumes of about three lakh shares, and Sterlite Industries, which gained Rs 2.50 to close at Rs 523.2. About 25,000 shares were traded on the counter.

There was also a buzz around telecom stocks, notably MTNL. On the heels of the announcement by the Union Communications Minister that the government was looking to appoint advisors to enable MTNL and BSNL to work on a basis that is mutually beneficial, the stock of the former rose as much as Rs 8.05 to close at Rs 127.75. About 36 lakh shares were traded on the counter. The stock of

Bharti, the largest GSM-based mobile telephony player in the country, also posted gains, as it rose by Rs 2.3 to finish at Rs 145.5. The counter clocked about 6.5 lakh shares in trading volumes.

Zee Telefilms was another Sensex stock that moved smartly. Even as the Bombay High Court is scheduled to hear the case on cricket telecast rights on Friday, the stock moved up by Rs 4.25 to finish at Rs 155.05. Close to 12 lakh shares were traded on the counter.

Outside of the frontline stocks, Saregama India was one stock in focus. It hit the upper ceiling of 20 per cent as it ended the day at Rs 73 on trading volumes of about three lakh shares, on reports that it had tied up with Paramount Pictures and Microsoft Corporation.

Other important gainers included MRF Ltd, Rico Auto Industries, Tata Infotech, Pantaloon Retail, Jammu & Kashmir Bank and HCL Infosystems.

A few stocks that ended on the losing side included LMW, Lupin, HDFC, KPIT Cummins, Abbott India, Hikal India and Monsanto.

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