The Hindu Business Line : Sensex declines further as bearish trend continues

CONTINUING the bearish trend witnessed on Monday, the benchmark indices declined further during Tuesday's trading. After opening on a firm note, both BSE Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty ended the day in the negative territory.

The Sensex opened at 5750.36 and went on to touch a high of 5762.6 before profit booking and concerns on sustained rise in crude oil prices overweighed the positive sentiment.

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The index closed at 5676.73, down 40.81 points or 0.71 per cent in relation to Monday's close of 5717.54.

The damage to the indices and the market sentiment would have been more severe but for the firm trend in technology heavyweight - Infosys Technologies. Aided by better-than-expected financial performance for the quarter ended September 2004, the Infosys stock logged a Rs 27 rise to close at Rs 1,712.25.

Along with Infosys, HDFC, Ranbaxy and BHEL were the other major gainers from the stocks that constitute the index.

The share price of HDFC increased by Rs 9.5 to Rs 690.05. Ranbaxy went up by Rs 13.2 or 1.24 per cent before closing at Rs 1070.1.

Bharti Tele, Grasim, ONGC and Reliance were prominent losers among the index stocks.

The share price of Reliance dropped by Rs 11.95 or 2.2 per cent to close at Rs 534.95. ONGC's share price declined by Rs 14.6 to Rs 791.6.

While Infosys managed to record gains, the other technology heavyweights did not quite attract market attention. Software majors Wipro, i-flex Solutions and TCS were confined to the losers' list. The share price of Wipro dropped by Rs 14.6 or 1.81 per cent from Monday's close of Rs 806.2.

Stocks from the cement, steel and banking industries were at the receiving end on Tuesday. Top companies from these sectors such as Tata Steel, SAIL, ACC, Grasim and State Bank of India registered sharp decline during the day.

The across-the-board drop in share price on Tuesday indicates that investors are getting into a cautious mode. Stocks that have recorded sharp gains in the recent weeks dominated the list of losers.

Quite a mid-cap few stocks have also found a place in the stocks that have lost value during the day.

Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys, Praj Industries, Sesa Goa and GE Shipping were major losers in the mid-cap space.

The share price of Praj Industries dropped by 3.8 per cent to Rs 232.35. Trading volumes declined marginally to 13,062 shares from 14,474 shares. After having appreciated by about 22 per cent this month, the stock has turned weak in the last couple of trading sessions.

The GE Shipping stock dropped by Rs 6.9 before closing at Rs 171.4. Trading volumes dropped to 2.89 lakh shares from 3.27 lakh shares recorded on Monday.

Amara Raja Batteries and Patni Computers were among the handful of gainers of Tuesday's trading.

The share price of Amara Raja Batteries increased by 6.6 per cent or Rs 5.35 to Rs 85.95. Trading volumes zipped to 1.72 lakh shares from 11,564 shares.

Reports that the company has bagged orders from Maruti Udyog for supply of one-lakh batteries appear to have propped market sentiment towards Amara Raj Batteries stock.

The acquisition of a US-based company imparted positive sentiment towards the Patni Computers stock. The share price of the company registered a 1.8 per cent gain to Rs 358.75. Trading volumes spurted to 2.1 lakh shares from 32,307 shares recorded the previous day.

PSU stocks - ITI and HMT evinced buying interest even amidst the bearish trend that prevailed on Tuesday. The share price of ITI jumped by 10.6 per cent to Rs 18.85. From 2.69 lakh shares recorded on Monday, trading volumes shot-up to 14 lakh shares on Tuesday.

The spurt in share price of HMT was more pronounced with the stock recording a 20 per cent jump to Rs 26.2.

Trading volumes raced ahead to 7.86 lakh shares from 56,384 shares recorded the previous day.

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