The Hindu Business Line : Heavyweights prop up Sensex

SUSTAINED buying interest in Sensex heavyweights helped the BSE Sensex record smart gains of 46.06 points (or 0.77 per cent) to close the day at 6,009.86 points.

Following the clarification issued by Mr Mukesh Ambani on the ownership issue relating to the Reliance Group, the Sensex opened on an optimistic note at 5,982.91 points and touched a high of 6,031.59 points. Compared to the intra-day swing of 101 points in Monday's trading, the swing was restricted to 54 points during the day's trading.

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The key Sensex stocks with high weightages - Infosys Technologies, Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank, ITC, ONGC Corporation and HDFC - recorded gains during the day's trading.

Among the BSE Sectoral indices, the indices that outperformed the Sensex were BSE - Auto, BSE - Capital Goods, BSE - PSU Index and BSE Healthcare. The ones that lagged were BSE - Oil and Gas and BSE - Consumer Durables.

Out of 2,936 stocks traded, 1,660 stocks appreciated in value while 680 logged declines. The advances both in A-group and B1-group were considerably higher than the declines.

In the B1 and B2 groups, 19 and 153 stocks hit the upper circuit compared to one and 16 stocks touching the lower circuit during the day. Of the 299 stocks that hit upper circuit, 51 were from Z-category.

The S&P CNX Nifty also appreciated by 19.25 points (or 1.03 per cent) to close the day at 1,892.60 points. CNX Nifty Junior and Midcap 200 were the other prominent gainers with 1.75 per cent and 1.12 per cent gains respectively.

Among the Nifty constituents, the major gainers were Sun Pharma, ITC, ABB, Colgate and Tata Power. The losers were Hindustan Lever, IPCL, Reliance Energy and Hero Honda.

Among the Junior Nifty constituents, the significant gainers were GE Shipping, Ashok Leyland, Jindal Vijayanagar Steel, UTI Bank and IFCI. The prominent losers were Bank of India, IOB, Ingersoll Rand, Asian Paints and Nicholas Piramal.

Among the significant gainers during the day were a clutch of software stocks such as RS Software, KLG Systel and Financial Technologies, steel stocks such as Lloyd Steel and Ispat Industries and stocks such as Prism Cements, Insilco, Nagarjuna Fertilisers, GE Shipping and Amtek Auto.

The RS Software stock was among the prominent gainer during the day, with the stock hitting the upper circuit and closing at Rs 31.50.

The trading volumes in the stock rose from 24,342 shares on Monday's trading to 62,791 shares during the day.

KLG Systel was the other software stock that gained 9.96 per cent to close the day at Rs 107.60. The trading volumes, however, slackened in the stock from 2.65 lakh shares on Monday's trading to 1.13 lakh shares during the day.

Accompanied by robust trading activity, the Prism Cements stock was another gainer during the day. The stock gained Rs 1.93 (about 15 per cent) to rest for the day at Rs 15.06. The trading volumes soared from 9.59 lakh shares on Monday's trading to 48.78 lakh shares during the day.

In the steel stocks, good earnings performance and hardening prices buoyed up the Ispat Industries stock. The stock appreciated by Rs 1.48 to close the day at Rs 17.57.

The Amtek Auto stock appreciated by Rs 7.65 to close for the day at Rs 184. Compared to 19.4 lakh shares traded on Monday, the trading volumes marched up to 2.43 lakh shares during the day. The uptrend has to be seen in the light of Amtek Auto's announcement that its global depository receipt issue has been fully subscribed equivalent to $60 million.

The prominent losers during the day were SBI Home Finance, ITI, Clutch Auto, GIC Housing, Tata Metalik and Asian Electronics.