The Hindu Business Line : Buying interest lifts oil, banking stocks

The Sensex traded in a band of 61 points before closing at 5973.75. The fall in global crude oil prices below the $50 mark too provided some momentum. FII flows have also been strong over the past few days.

The fall in global oil prices and the recent hike in domestic fuel prices lifted the PSU oil companies' stocks.

After taking a breather in the previous trading session, stocks such as BPCL, HPCL, Bongaigoan Refinery, Chennai Petroleum, IBP, Indian Oil and Kochi Refinery rose between two and four per cent.

Select bank stocks such as IOB, Andhra Bank, Bank of India and Corporation Bank too were upbeat.

The pick up in credit demand, especially industrial credit, and the likelihood of a hike in lending rates that could increase spreads in the short term appears to have enthused interest in bank stocks.

Stocks from the banking sector were the most affected post May 17, when the markets witnessed a free fall. The interest in banking stocks seems to be reviving over the past few days.

The buoyancy in the broad markets is evident in the number of stocks that touched their yearly highs. 194 stocks touched their yearly highs and only 14 stocks touched the yearly lows on the BSE.

The prominent among them are Shrenuj & Co, Emico Elecon, Sintex Industries, ABG Heavy Industries, Punjab Alkalies, Kennametal Widia, Crew B.O.S. Productions, Savitha Chemicals, Amararaja Batteries, Yuken India, Hotel Leela Ventures, Salora International and South East Asia Marine. These stocks witnessed a substantial rise during the day.

Among the small and mid cap universe, stocks that witnessed substantial action were India Card Clothing, Tata Coffee, Kajaria Ceramics, Mahindra Ugine and Abhishek Industries.

Textiles stocks, both integrated players and those in the spinning segment, stole the show for the day. Prominent textile stocks that raced ahead were Raymond, Pantaloon Retail, Indian Rayon, Mahavir Spinning, Vardhaman Spinning, Rajasthan Spinning and Eastern Silk. The stock of Eastern Silk gained 10 per cent to close at Rs 184.5.

Hotel stocks such as Indian Hotels, Hotel Leela and EIH too firmed up. Indian Hotels gained as much as Rs 19 to close at Rs 490. Hotel Leela was up on news that The Delhi High Court has pronounced a judgement in favour of the company whereby the company expects to receive close to Rs 200 crore from Hudco. The stock gained Rs 13 to close at Rs 111.

Gujarat NRE Coke continued to remain firm on announcement of a 1:1 bonus and a 10 per cent interim dividend. The stock closed at Rs 118, posting marginal gains. However, traded volumes were large as has been in the past couple of days.

The stock of Royal Airways has been on the fast moving stocks list. The stock has more than doubled during the past week.

The stock has been continuously locked in the upper circuit filter. Traded volumes have risen sharply. The stock closed at Rs 17.43, gaining Rs 1.58 during the day. Close to 12.8 lakh shares exchanged hands.