The Hindu Business Line : Sensex scores a ton for 2nd day in row

EXTENDING Friday's gain of 179 points, the Sensex recorded a 136.85-point gain on Monday. Market sentiment perked up following reports of the Government's decision to allow private pension funds to invest in the equity market. After opening on a firm note at 6463.52 points, the index went on to touch a high of 6565.3 before closing a tad lower at 6555.94 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty mirrored a similar trend. The index gained 2.45 per cent to close at 2057.6. The prominent gainers among the index stocks included Reliance Energy, Bharti Tele-Ventures, SAIL and GAIL. Significant among those to lose were MTNL, ITC, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Tata Chemicals.

The share price of BHEL rose 4 per cent to close at Rs 750.70. The company reported its quarterly performance after market hours on Monday. It reported a 78 per cent rise in third quarter post-tax earnings at Rs 237 crore. The trading volume increased from 55,181 shares to 1.56 lakh shares.

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The ITC stock ruled weak during the day and closed at Rs 1,372.95. This represents a drop of 1.98 per cent from Friday's close.

Reports that the Government has issued a notice to recover about Rs 450 crore from ITC appear to have dented the market sentiment towards the stock. Trading volume shot up to 3.99 lakh shares from 2.86 lakh shares recorded the previous day.

Helped by the bullish undertone, quite a few stocks from the mid-cap and large cap sectors registered sharp gains on Monday. Prominent players among them include VSNL, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Nava Bharat Ferro, Sesa Goa and Cadila Healthcare.

There was heightened activity in the VSNL counter. The share price rose 10.2 per cent to settle at Rs 230.05. The rise was on the back of reports that the company had filed a suit against the Government seeking compensation for prematurely ending its monopoly over long distance services.

The share price of Bharti Tele rose 4.66 per cent to close at Rs 230.35. This has to be seen in the light of the company's announcement that it's wholly-owned subsidiary, Bharti Infotel, has signed an agreement with Max India Ltd to acquire their entire equity stake in Comsat Max for a total consideration of about Rs 35 crore. Cosmat Max is a provider of VSAT and broadband services in India.

The list of losers includes Madras Fertiliser, Aurobindo Pharma, Hindustan Zinc and Crompton Greaves. While select pharma majors such as Ranbaxy and Cipla closed on a positive note, quite a few stocks such as Divi's Labs, Nicholas Piramal and Aurobindo closed on a weak note. The share price of Nicholas Piramal dropped by Rs 5.55 to close at Rs 265.1.

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Sensex scores a ton for 2nd day in row