The Hindu Business Line : Mid-cap banking stocks shine in lacklustre trade

Indices tracking large-cap stocks such as the Nifty and the Sensex as well broad-based indices such as the CNX 500 and CNX Mid-Cap 200 ended the day in the red. Bolstered by a sharp spurt in a few stocks, the latter managed to close with a marginal decline.

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It was a day on which divergent trends were evident in the engineering, banking and information technology sector stocks.

The listing of Bharati Shipyard at a premium of about 100 per cent to the offer price was a highlight of the day's trading; as its IPO was oversubscribed 78 times, the listing gains have been in line with expectations. The stock offered at Rs 66 (the upper end of the price band) closed the day at Rs 129.

Mid-day Multimedia, which had gains of about 40 per cent in the two previous trading sessions on the back of a sizeable stake acquisition by Mr Rakesh Jhunjunwala, was a prominent loser.

The stock of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, which has been on a spectacular upward trend, was lifted to higher levels by an imminent bonus announcement.

The company had completed a stock split a few months ago and its board meets on January 6 to consider the bonus share proposal.

The Sensex closed at 6,522.5 with a decline 0.7 per cent and the Nifty at 2,059.8 with a decline of 0.5 per cent, led by the stocks of Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank.

Hindalco was the significant gainer in the Nifty on the back of aluminium prices, which are at a nine-and-a-half-year high. Declining stocks outnumbering advancing stocks by a factor of two to one captures the breadth of the weak trend.

The banking sector was in the limelight with stocks of old private sector banks in the limelight.

The likes of Lakshmi Vilas Bank, Karnataka Bank, Karur Vysya Bank, Dhanalakshmi Bank and United Western Bank sported impressive gains.

ING Vysya, too, had a good outing even as Centurion Bank built on the substantial gains in recent weeks.

In the large-cap space, the trends were mixed. Apart from ICICI Bank, Bank of India and Bank of Baroda ruled weak; the stocks of HDFC Bank and SBI bucked the trend to sport modest gains.

Expectations of a business opportunity in reconstruction activities in the wake of destruction in the coastal States appear to have induced interest in construction sector stocks.

Gammon India, Hindustan Construction and Ramco Industries witnessed hectic trading and posted sizeable gains.

The stock of Dalmia Cements, which caters only to the Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets, rose sharply for the second successive day.

Engineering sector stocks had a mixed day at the office. The sector as a whole was marked lower; there were exceptions from the MNC ranks with stocks such as ABB, Alfa Laval and Atlas Copco closing on a firm note.

In the IT domain, frontline plays such as Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Satyam Computer suffered declines. A few stocks such as Cranes Software, Geodesic Information and MphasiS BFL managed to buck the trend.

Straddling across sectors, stocks such as Sesa Goa, Pantaloon Retail, Zodiac Clothing, Concor and Mercator Lines, which have enjoyed momentum with a positive bias, maintained their upswing.

There was a slackening of interest in Madhucon Projects, Nava Bharat Ferro Alloys, Godrej Consumer, MRF and Sundaram Clayton.

Prominent gainers were Cinevista, Dabur, Shri Adhikari Brothers, Soffia Softwrae, B.A.G. Films, Patel Airtemps, Ballarpur Industries, Sun Pharma, Indraprastha Gas and Petronet LNG.

Notable losers were Radaan Media, Chemplast Sanmar, Shipping Corporation, Arvind Mills, Alstom, Rallis, Sekurit Saint Gobain, FAG Bearings, Clutch Auto and Sulzer India.

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