The Hindu Business Line : Textile stocks gain momentum

A number of stocks are trading at substantially higher levels to what they exchanged hands when the Sensex was at its peak in January. Once again, the market is flush with liquidity with FIIs pouring in money. FII investments in the Indian stock markets in 2004 have exceeded those in 2003.

Click here for table

The Sensex had been testing the 6,000 mark several times during the past few days. It managed a smart gain for the second straight day after crossing the 6,000 level to close at 6,035.95 points. The Nifty, on Wednesday, closed above the 1,900 mark after seven months. It gained 11.45 points to close at 1,904.5 points.

The market breath was highly positive with 371 stocks touching their highs and just eight stocks touching their lows on the Bombay Stock Exchange. Among the index stocks, ITC was the top mover. The stock gained Rs 62.5 to close at Rs 1,254.25. ONGC too gained Rs 6.65 after it announced that it would be investing more in oil fields abroad through its overseas subsidiary, ONGC Videsh.

Reliance group stocks remained subdued despite the clarification by Mr Mukesh Ambani on the `ownership issue' of Reliance group companies. Reliance Capital, Reliance Energy and Reliance Industries closed lower than the previous days close.

The predominant theme of the day was textile stocks. A number of textile stocks — both frontline and second rung were on fire. The textile fury was present across various categories such as spinning, readymade and retail. Alok Industries and Arvind Mills were some of the top movers of the day. The stock of Alok Industries has been range bound for quite some time before momentum picked up. Some of the spinning stocks that leaped today were Mahavir Spinning, Nahar Spinning, Vardhaman Spinning and Deepak Spinning.

Some of the non-frontline textile stocks that witnessed hectic buying action were Hanil Era Textiles, Soma Textiles, Shiva Tex Yarn, Loyal Textile Mills and Aarvee Denim.

Garden Silk Mills, Lakshmi Mills, Indo Rama Synthetics, Pantaloon Retail, Indo Rama Textiles and Raymond were few other stocks from the textile sector that gained momentum.

The stock of Timex too was under demand. The stock put on 5 per cent to close at Rs 14.1.

Engineering stocks too were on an uptrend. Stocks such as Thermax, Bharat Electronics, Siemens, Esab India and Shanthi Gears have been moving up slowly and steadily over the past few days. The stock HMT has almost doubled as the company turned around in the latest quarter. Indian Card Clothing, which was among the sharp gainers in the past few days, took a breather. The stock touched Rs 190 during the day before settling down at Rs 185, Rs 2 lower than the previous close. Among engineering stocks, LMW, Ingersoll Rand, ABB and BEL witnessed a sharp move during the day.

Banking stocks, the flavour of the previous week, seem to be taking a breather. The BSE Bankex gained the least on Wednesday when compared to other sectoral indices. Kotak Mahindra Bank, however, was upbeat. The stock moved up 4 per cent during the day.

Among the mid-cap stocks some of the top gainers were Philips Carbon Black, Sundaram Clayton, Thomas Cook Tube Investments, Ultramarine Pigments, West Coast Paper, Berger Paints. Some of the top gainers with huge volume increases are Ramco Systems, Avery India, SRF, Archie's, India Gelatine, Dabur Pharma, Walchandnagar, Dhampur Invertors, Precision Electric, PSI Data Systems, Asian Hotels and McDowell.

More Stories on : Stock Markets | Commentary | Sensor

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Air India board approves acquisition of 50 aircraft

Jet Airways plans IPO

Coimbatore industrialist bags Standard Motors property

Bhakta persuaded to reconsider resignation from Reliance board

Govt rolls back monthly hike in LPG prices

Promoters of mid-cap cos shed stake as stock prices rule high

Textile stocks gain momentum

Call rates have `settled', says RBI Governor