The Hindu Business Line : Consumer durables, capital goods gain

A STRONG bout of selling towards the fag end of the trading session on Wednesday left the Sensex in the negative territory, down 62.28 points (or 0.93 per cent) to close at 6607.78 points.

After remaining fairly steady in the early part of the day, the selling pressure was witnessed in the afternoon session, with only 7 of the 30 stocks in the Sensex advancing in value during the day.

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The Hindustan Lever stock was the biggest loser, declining by 5.36 per cent to settle at Rs. 143.90.

The market sentiment appears to have turned jittery in the run-up to the Budget.

The market breadth was also negative, with advances to declines ratio at 0.54, with 844 stocks advancing in value, while 1559 stocks logged declines, out of 2471 stocks traded during the day.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, the prominent gainers were consumer durables, capital goods and metals.

Practically, all the other indices were in the negative zone, with FMCG and auto indices being significant losers.

The S&P CNX Nifty also shed 1.01 per cent to close the day at 2068.80 points.

In relative terms, the Nifty Junior and CNX Midcap Index shed 0.39 per cent and 0.57 per cent respectively. Among the significant gainers in the Nifty were Hindalco, Tata Steel, Larsen and Toubro, BHEL and BPCL.

The prominent losers were Hindustan Lever, Maruti (following the denial of open offer rumours by Suzuki), M &M, Tata Motors and Shipping Corporation of India.

Among the Nifty Junior constituents, the key gainers were Jindal Vijayanagar Steel, IFCI, Siemens, Cadila Healthcare, TVS Motor and Bank of India. The losers were LIC Housing Finance, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Moser Baer and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

Outside the broad indices, the significant gainers were Avery India, Mukand Engineering, Kale Consultants, Kalyani Steel, Natco Pharma, Essar Steel, Mastek and IVRCL Infrastructure.

Bolstered by robust trading volumes, the Avery India stock gained Rs. 9.05 (or 17.5 per cent) to close at Rs. 60.50.

The trading volumes in the stock rose from 48,843 shares on Tuesday's trading to 5.65 lakh shares during the day.

Kale Consultants was a prominent gainer, with the stock appreciating by 7.06 per cent to settle at Rs. 74.25. The trading volumes also shot up more-than five fold to touch 2.41 lakh shares.

Natco Pharma was another gainer, with the stock gaining Rs. 8.7 (or 6.35 per cent) to close at Rs. 145.70.

Compared to 13,145 shares traded on Tuesday, the trading volumes soared to 4.60 lakh shares during the day.

The uptrend has to be seen in the light of the company's launch of Lukatret - a medicine used in the treatment of a rare form of leukemia, replacing some of the imported medicines at a lower price.

Riding on strong trading volumes (including a block deal), the Essar Steel stock rose 3.34 per cent to rest at Rs 46.40.

The trading volumes increased from 16.99 lakh shares on Tuesday to 46.80 lakh shares during the day.

The Mastek stock appreciated by Rs. 10.30 (or 2.72 per cent) to close at Rs. 388.40. The trading volumes also went up from 32520 shares on Tuesday to 1.12 lakh shares.

Carretek, a Mastek joint venture, has bagged a three year expanded contract with a US-based company to offshore its cheque exceptions processing requirements.

Buoyed by new orders valued at Rs. 311 crore from the last week of January to date, the IVRCL Infrastructure stock rose by 2.2 per cent to close at Rs. 360.40.

The trading volumes also perked up in the stock, going up from 23664 shares on Tuesday to 1.48 lakh shares.

Among the significant losers were Jagson Airlines, NIIT, Essar Shipping, Hinduja Finance, Bata India and India Bulls.

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