The Hindu Business Line : Banking, auto shine; Reliance helps Sensex recovery

FOR the second day in succession, the Sensex nudged past the psychological 6000-point mark and failed to close above it. After hitting a high of 6002.03, the index ended a shade lower at 5996.7. This represents a rise of 32.69 points over Friday's close.

Aided by buying interest in the latter half of the day's trading, the benchmark indices managed to close on a firm note on Tuesday. After an extended weekend, the stock market opened on a relatively subdued note and dipped into the negative territory during the early part of the day's trading.

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Helped by the recovery in index heavyweight — Reliance Industries, both the Sensex and the Nifty managed to bounce off the day's low. After hitting an intra-day low of Rs 538.8, the share price of Reliance closed near the day's high at Rs 544.85.

Out of the 30 stocks forming part of the Sensex, Infosys, State Bank of India and HDFC Bank were the major gainers. The share price of Infosys surged by Rs 23.35 to Rs 2,048.8 and HDFC Bank by Rs 15.65 to Rs 484.15.

The easing of crude oil prices in the international market and the hike in interest rates announced by a few banks were the key factors that influenced the market sentiment. While the share price of ONGC took a knock owing to the drop in oil price, the automobile companies managed to seek higher levels.

The share price of ONGC dropped by Rs 20.25 to Rs 795.5. Top automobile manufacturers such as Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Udyog logged sharp gains during the day.

The decision to hike interest rates has imparted positive sentiment towards banking sector stocks. Quite a few banking stocks including State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank recorded sharp gains during the day. The share price of SBI went up by Rs 12.7 to Rs 504.8.

Buying interest was also evident in sectors such as automotive tyres, agro-products and auto-ancillaries and chlor-alkali. Stocks such as MRF, TVS Srichakra and Goodyear were prominent gainers from the tyre industry.

The share price of MRF increased by 5 per cent or Rs 98.4 to close at Rs 2,088.7. Trading volumes increased from 313 shares to 3,728 shares. The trading in the stock was more robust at the National Stock Exchange where 6,529 shares were transacted during the day.

Companies such as Chemfab Alkalies, Bihar Caustic and Sree Rayalseema Alkalies were the prominent gainers from the chlor-alkali space. The share price of Chemfab Alkalies moved up by 10 per cent to Rs 123.45. Trading volumes more than doubled to 9,976 shares from 4,615 shares.

Quite a few Tata group companies found a place in the gainers list. Along with Tata Motors, Trent, Rallis India and Tata Chemicals were the other prominent gainers from the Tata group.

The share price of Trent shot up by 20 per cent to Rs 475.65. From about 21,330 shares on Friday, trading volumes jumped to 2.3 lakh shares on Tuesday. The stock has registered a 48 per cent jump from the level of Rs 322 in early October.

A bulk deal for 83,942 shares of Trent was recorded at the National Stock Exchange. Oppenheimer Fund bought these shares at an average price of Rs 457.9.

Along with Tata Chemicals, the share price of quite a few companies having exposure to the agriculture sector managed to settle at higher levels. The share price of Tata Chemicals shot-up by 6 per cent to Rs 138.5. The other gainers from the sector include Excel Crop Care, Jayant Agro, Rallis India and Monsato India.

Stock such as Hexaware Technologies, Ranbaxy Labs, Teledata Informatics and Automotive Stamping were amongst the prominent losers of Tuesday's trading. The share price of Hexaware Technologies eased to Rs 524.95, down Rs 13.15 from Friday's close of Rs 538.1. Trading volumes increased to 5,410 shares from 1,167 shares recorded the previous day.