The Hindu Business Line : Buoyant run in Sensex thanks to pivotals

ROBUST buying interest in heavyweights helped power the BSE Sensex to close at an all-time high of 6,234.29 points, up 76.52 points (or 1.24 per cent).

In the course of the trading session, the Sensex touched an intra-day high of 6,248.43 points, marginally short of the all-time intra-day high of 6,249.6 touched on January 9, 2004.

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Fuelled by FII flows and large-cap trading focus, the markets continued its euphoric run for the second consecutive day, practically shrugging the impact of the Reliance ownership tussle.

Out of the 30-share Sensex, 22 stocks appreciated in value and eight stocks logged declines. Both Reliance Industries and Reliance Energy ended the day on a higher note for the second successive day.

Unlike the broad-based buying seen on Monday's trading, the mid-cap stocks took a tumble during the day's trading. Out of 2,453 stocks traded during the day, only 599 stocks advanced in value, while 1814 stocks logged declines.

The BSE sectoral indices also reflected the skewed picture in trading patterns. With the exception of the BSE - IT Index, practically all indices underperformed the Sensex during the day's trading. The BSE - IT Index, appreciating by 1.89 per cent, was the lone out-performer.

The S & P CNX Nifty also remained buoyant, with the indices appreciating by 19.15 points (or 0.99 per cent) to close at 1,958.80 points. Relatively, both the Nifty Junior and S & P CNX 500 logged returns of only 0.22 per cent and 0.41 per cent respectively. And the CNX Mid-cap 200 Index actually shed 1.25 per cent to close for the day at 2272 points.

Among the Nifty stocks, the top five gainers were Punjab National Bank, HDFC, Ranbaxy Labs, Bharti Tele-Ventures and Hindustan Lever. The losers were Dabur, BPCL, Shipping Corporation of India, VSNL and Sun Pharma.

Among the Nifty Junior stocks, the prominent gainers were a clutch of banking stocks such as IDBI, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Baroda, Andhra Bank and Vijaya Bank. The other gainers were i-flex Solutions and Aventis Pharma.

The significant losers among the stocks in the Nifty Junior were Ingersoll Rand, Raymond, IFCI, UTI Bank and Jindal Vijayanagar Steel.

Outside the large-cap stock segment that attracted heightened trading interest, the significant gainers during the day were a clutch of stocks from the textiles sector - Kandagiri Spinning, Sambandam Spinning and Vijay Textiles, from software - RS Software and KLG Systel and a sprinkling of stocks such as Gujarat NRE Coke, Indiabulls, Shaw Wallace and Samkrg Pistons.

Kandagiri Spinning appreciated by Rs 12.95 (or 14.19 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 104.20. Similarly, Sambandam Spinning was the other gainer, with the stock also gaining Rs 12.9 (or 12.5 per cent) to close at Rs 116.20, accompanied by robust trading volumes for the second consecutive day.

There was a sustained rise in the large-cap software stocks such as Infosys Technologies, Wipro and Satyam.

On a day when mid-cap and small-cap stocks tumbled, some of the small-cap software gainers were RS Software and KLG Systel. RS Software jumped by 9.90 per cent to close the day at Rs 36.05. There was heightened trading activity in the stock, with volumes soaring from 6,195 shares on Monday's trading to 35,439 shares during the day.

The Gujarat NRE Coke stock was a prominent gainer, with the stock appreciating by 7.97 per cent to close at Rs 127.20. Compared to 6.70 lakh shares traded on Monday, the trading volumes in the stock rose to 30.81 lakh shares during the day. The stock has been on an uptrend for some time.

Among the prominent losers were a whole host of mid-cap and small-cap stocks such as ITI, Aksh Optifibre, Mahindra Ugine, Helios and Matheson, Uniphos Enterprises and Aztec Software.