The Hindu Business Line : Sensex ends flat in lacklustre trading

IT was a dull day for the markets on Monday. After greeting the fiscal year with a jubilant note on Friday, the sentiment appears to have turned cautious yet again, with anticipated spikes in crude prices threatening to dampen it further. With the earnings season around the corner, investors are now waiting with bated breath for corporates to pull a rabbit out of their hats.

The Sensex ended the day on a flat note at 6604.42, barely a point less than its previous close. The S&P CNX Nifty closed at 2063.40; four points lower than its previous close of 2067.65 points. Mid-cap pharma stocks and select technology stocks, however, were in the seat of action, while auto and steel stocks were out of favour.

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The Sensex opened on a positive note, about ten points higher than its previous close. It was a day of listless trading thereafter. The index alternated between the positive and negative territory as both the bulls and the bears took turns in driving the markets today. Out of the 30 stocks constituting the index, 14 advanced while 16 declined. The stocks of ICICI Bank and Gujarat Ambuja, however, shone in a lifeless market.

The stock of ICICI Bank appreciated 3.19 per cent or Rs 12.95 to close at Rs 418.55. Gujarat Ambuja's share price also rose 2.81 per cent or Rs 11.60 to close at Rs 424.90. Notable losers among the Sensex stocks include Tata Steel, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Udyog.

Auto stocks were prominent losers of the day. Tata Motors shed 2.30 per cent to close at Rs 424.45. The announcement of an increase in annual sales did not appear to help the stock prices of Maruti Udyog and Mahindra & Mahindra. The stock of Maruti slid about three per cent to close at Rs 420.10. Bajaj Auto was another stock that found its way into the losers' list.

A wave of profit booking appears to have set in for steel stocks, with many ending in the red on Monday. Second and third rung stocks that have seen gains recently, came under selling pressure. The stock of Tata Steel fell Rs 15.65 to close at Rs 393.6. The stocks of National Steel and Agro, Uttam Galva Steel, Essar Steel, Jindal Steel, Jindal Vijayanagar were some of those that lost steam.

Midcap stocks however, particularly in the pharma space, were alive and kicking. The CNX Midcap 200 itself was an outperformer, gaining about one per cent. The stocks of Divi Labs, Astrazeneca Pharma, Dishman Pharmaceuticals, Orchid Chemicals, Lupin and Matrix Labs figured in the long list of gainers.

There was selective buying in the mid-cap and small-cap stocks of the IT sector as well. The stocks of Sonata Software, Aztec software, Four Soft, DSQ software, Trigyn Technologies and Tata Infotech were the notable ones that logged gains.

Stocks and news: Announcement of results and other news spurred interest in select stocks. The stock of Bharat Earth Movers soared 20 per cent or Rs 77.85 to close at Rs 467.25. Its pre-tax profit had risen five-fold over the past year.

Stocks of Gujarat Ambuja rose by Rs11.6 to close at Rs 424.9 on the back of its announcement of higher cement sales during the year.

The stock of Patel Engineering gained Rs 5.65 or 2.6 per cent to close at Rs 225.35, following the company's announcement that it had received an order worth Rs 18.4 crore from the Mumbai city municipal corporation.

The stock of Kirloskar Brothers rose sharply, adding Rs 56.65 to close at Rs 947.80. The company announced on Friday that it had received an order worth Rs 229 crore from the irrigation department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

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