The Hindu Business Line : Indices up, end five-day losing streak

POWERED by a surge in buying that commenced in the post-afternoon session, the benchmark BSE Sensex snapped a five-day losing streak to post a gain of 30.82 points on Friday.

The Sensex closed at 6,700.34 points. The Nifty gained 10.65 points to settle at 2,109.15 points. Trading was volatile, with the Sensex witnessing an intra-day movement of 115 points. The strong closing was in spite of the market breadth being negative, with close to 1,700 stocks registering declines compared to 736 that advanced.

The index opened about five points lower than its close on Thursday and scaled its intra-day peak of 6,710.98 points in early trading. It was all downhill from there, with the index hitting a low of 6,595.53 points. Buying kicked in at this level and the index not only recouped its losses but also had enough firepower to end the day in positive territory.

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Index stocks: Setting the pace within the index was ICICI Bank, which has priced its sponsored ADS offer at $21.11 per share. Each ADS represents two equity shares. Reckoned on the basis of the stock's closing price of Rs 413.05, the ADS still quotes at a premium of 12 per cent. The stock contributed 14.7 points to the gain in the Sensex.

Reliance Industries, whose stock had seen a sharp fall on Thursday, staged a comeback; the stock gained Rs 9.70 to finish at Rs 571.65 on the back of trading volumes of 22-lakh shares.

Bharti Tele, which had shed close to 12 per cent in the first four trading sessions of the week, also moved up by Rs 8.90 to settle at Rs 207.70. The stock has seen some choppiness after one of its key investors, Warburg Pincus, offloaded a part of its holdings in the early part of the week.

It was also a fairly good day for all the technology stocks. Infosys, Wipro, TCS and Satyam ended the day posting gains.

Maruti was another stock that enjoyed a smooth drive, gaining Rs 10.55 to finish at Rs 448. Though the company informed the exchanged that its production facilities would remain shut for two days this month, it expects sales in the current month to be the highest monthly sales ever.

Pharma stocks exhibited a divergent trend, with Ranbaxy sporting smart gains, even as Dr Reddy's and Cipla ended the day in the red.

Other prominent losers within the index included L&T, ITC and HDFC.

Steeling up: Select stocks within the steel sector also firmed up, on the back of expectations that manufacturers would up prices to capitalise on firm demand as well as offset rising input costs. Tata Steel, Bhushan Steel, SAIL, Ispat Industries were a few stocks that ended the day posting gains.

Stocks and news: The stock of Aban Lloyd Chiles continued its blistering run, posting a gain of Rs 51.90 to end at Rs 2,031.05. The company announced just before the market closed that it intends to split its stock in the ratio of 5:1 and also raise about Rs 450 crore from the overseas market. Since February 1, the stock has posted a whopping gain of close to 80 per cent.

Dolphin Offshore, which provides services to the oil and gas sector, gained Rs 9.20 at Rs 193.45. The company said that it had received a Rs 37-crore order from ONGC. The stock quoted at Rs 60 at the beginning of the current calendar.

Pharma company DIL, which announced after market hours on Thursday that it intends to buy back shares at a price of up to Rs 250, fell sharply. The stock shed Rs 13.5 to finish at Rs 210.10.

Gainers and losers: Other prominent gainers included LMW, MICO, Kirloskar Brothers, Max India, CMC, Pantaloon Retail, Solvay Pharma and Gammon India.

Key stocks that ended the day with losses included MRF, Astra Microwave, Pfizer, Micro Inks, Madhucon Projects, Divi Labs, Wyeth and Blue Dart.

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