The Hindu Business Line : Consumer durable, healthcare stocks gain

THE bout of consolidation and correction in stock prices that has set in since the beginning of the month continued on Wednesday. Excepting CNX Midcap 200, most of the major indices ended in negative territory.

In the case of larger capitalisation stocks, number of shares that advanced during the day trailed the number of stocks that declined by a ratio of 1:2. The ratio was moderate at about 1:1 in the case of middle and smaller capitalisation stocks. Trading volumes of about Rs 5,000 crore in the NSE were lower than what was seen in the previous week.

Click here for table

Rotation of stock holdings within industries appeared to be the order of the day. Select stocks from the banking, FMCG and healthcare recorded gains while other stocks from the same sector graced the loser's list. Major losers for the day were however from metal, auto, IT and oil & gas. Consumer durable company stocks were the prominent gainers.

Metal stocks slump: The BSE Metals index notched losses of 1.8 per cent for the day. 11 of the 12 stocks in the index declined in value.

Major losers included ancillary stocks such as Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys and Sesa Goa. Among integrated metal producing companies, SAIL and Essar Steel were the prominent losers.

Auto stocks slide: There was all-round selling in the auto sector too. 12 out of 16 index constituents recorded losses. Auto ancillary stocks such as Gabriel, Sono Koyo and Asahi India lost the most. Vehicle makers such as M&M, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Udyog lost a little less in comparison.

All the 12 stocks have, however, under performed Sensex for the day.

Rupee factor and IT stocks: The strengthening rupee took a breather on Wednesday in the backdrop of a global dollar rally. IT stocks, however, could not hold on to the gains seen on Tuesday and a number of stocks closed below the close on Monday. 15 of the 20 stocks in CNX IT Index shed value on Wednesday.

Major losers were HCL Technologies, Moser Baer, Mastek, Wipro and Patni Computers.

Oil price and oil stocks: Easing global oil prices, which were expected to moderate the subsidy burden of Indian oil companies, did not have the expected favourable impact on stock prices. Refinery stocks such as HPCL, Chennai Petroleum, Kochi Refineries, MRPL and Bongaigaon Refineries lost more value than the Sensex.

The Reliance stock remained weak in the backdrop of the continuing rumble between the Ambani brothers. Eight out of the ten stocks in the BSE Oil & Gas index lost value.

Durable manufacturers sizzle: Bucking the trend, consumer durable stocks shot up in value. Six of the eight stocks in the BSE Consumer Durable index notched gains. Trading volumes, however, remained poor.

Major gainers were Videocon International, BPL and Whirlpool of India.

Select large-cap winners: Stocks such as State Bank of India, Bharti Televentures, Colgate Palmolive and Container Corporation were some of the stocks that were unaffected by the general bearish trend. These stocks gained more than 3 per cent.

The announcement of continuing growth in subscriber base helped the Bharti Televenture stock surge ahead. In the case of SBI, news that FII holdings in the stock have come down below 18 per cent boosted sentiment.

News and stocks: The stock of Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren was up 2 per cent. The company announced that it has bagged an order worth $114 million from an US company. The stock of Sintex Industries shot up by nearly 8 per cent. The rise comes in the backdrop of an open offer announcement at a price much below the market price.