The Hindu Business Line : Sugar, hotel stocks make gains; HLL, Hindalco down

After a weak opening at 6259.5, the BSE Sensex dropped to a low of 6241.27 and recovered ground as the day progressed. The index closed at 6304.27, up 42.75 from previous day's close. The Nifty closed higher by 12 points at 1989.95.

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The rally in HDFC, Reliance Industries, State Bank and Infosys was instrumental in imparting strength to the Sensex. After ruling weak in the past few days, the share price of HDFC staged a sharp recovery on Thursday.

HDFC closed at Rs 777.25, up by Rs 22.25 from Wednesday's close of Rs 755. The State Bank of India stock posted Rs 12.35 gain before closing at Rs 605.35.

The list of losers from the index stocks includes Hindustan Lever and Hindalco. The share price of Hindustan Lever declined by Rs 5.95 to Rs 145.95. Trading volume more than doubled to 14.18 lakh shares from 6.6 lakh shares recorded on Wednesday.

The sustained market interest towards hotel and sugar sector stocks was the highlight of the day's trading. The share price of quite a few sugar companies including Dhampur Sugar, Andhra Sugar, Balrampur Chini and Bajaj Hindustan closed on a firm note.

The rise in price of the sugar sector stocks was also accompanied by a sharp spurt in trading volumes as well. In the case of Dhampur Sugar, trading volume jumped to 11 lakh shares from 4.6 lakh shares recorded the previous day. The share price of the company moved up by Rs 5.85 or about 10 per cent to close at Rs 64.8.

In the hotel sector, top companies such as Indian Hotels, EIH and Taj GVK closed on positive note. The share price of Indian Hotels logged a 3 per cent rise to close at Rs 524.1. Trading volume increased to 35,073 shares from 21,563 shares posted the previous day.

Bharti Tele, Thermax and Phillips Carbon Black were the other significant gainers of the day. Bharti Tele, provider of telecom services under the AirTel brand, recorded a sharp rise for the second day in succession.

Aided by reports of a healthy accretion to the cellular service subscriber base, the share price of Bharti Tele recorded a 2.4 per cent rise to Rs 192.75. Trading volume however declined to 19.4 lakh shares from 94.4 lakh shares recorded the previous day. The stock has appreciated by about 10 per cent in the past eight trading sessions.

The share price of Thermax moved up by Rs 17.7 to settle at Rs 526.1. Trading volumes ebbed to 18,253 shares from 30,892 shares. That the company has bagged orders for about Rs 90 crore from a steel company appears to have imparted positive sentiment towards the Thermax stock.

The decision to hike product prices acted as a key trigger behind the jump in the Phillips Carbon Black stock. The share price spurted by Rs 4.95 to Rs 81.65. Trading volumes more than doubled to 2.4 lakh shares from 1.2 lakh shares recorded the previous day.

Along with Hindustan Lever, companies such as Praj Industries, Videocon International and VSNL were the prominent losers of Thursday's trading.

While Hindustan Lever was confined to the losers list, its competitor in the detergent business - Nirma moved up sharply on Thursday. The share price of Nirma went up by Rs.27.25 before closing at Rs.354.1. Trading volume was quite robust at 97224 shares as opposed to 21865 shares recorded the previous day.

After recording a sharp rise the previous day, the share price of Videocon International was pegged back by Rs 3.95 to Rs 67.15. Trading volumes dropped to 31.3 lakh shares from 58 lakh shares recorded the previous day.

The VSNL stock dropped by Rs 7 before closing at Rs 216.65. Trading volume ebbed to 79,349 shares from 1.2 lakh shares recorded the previous day.

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