The Hindu Business Line : Infotech stocks face slump again

The Sensex declined by 37 points or 0.59 per cent to close at 6339.9 points. The S & P CNX Nifty fell by about 14 points or 0.70 per cent to close at 1957.1 points.

Click here for table

Leading the fall were Infosys and ONGC. Tech stocks were on the receiving end once again. The CNX IT index fell by close to 1.5 per cent on Tuesday.

The Sensex opened on a weak note and traded in a narrow range in the early hours of the session. Towards the later half, there was greater selling pressure, with the index falling more than 50 points off its day high to 6323.32. It subsequently recovered but remained in the negative territory. Only nine of the 30 stocks constituting the index advanced.

Hindustan Lever saw smart gains ahead of its results, which are to be announced later this week. It appreciated 3.2 per cent or Rs 4.3 to close at 137.95.

The major losers of the day include the stocks of Tata Motors, L&T, Maruti Udyog and Satyam.

Tech stocks found themselves out of favour again. While frontline companies, Infosys, Satyam, Wipro and TCS have borne the brunt of the selling pressure, stocks such as HCL Tech, Cranes Software and HCL Infosys also figured prominently in the losers' list.

Prominent losers for the day include Gujarat NRE Coke, Reliance Capital, KSB Pumps, Prism Cements, Matrix Laboratories and Colgate.

The stock of Gujarat NRE Coke declined 9.1 per cent to close at Rs 113.5. The Reliance Capital stock ended the day at Rs 178.65, down 7 per cent from its previous close.

Positive earnings announcements, however, managed to boost select stocks. Gateway Distriparks stole the show on Tuesday, gaining a whopping 16 per cent or Rs 21.20 to close at Rs 154.90, following the declaration of its results.

The stock of Taj GVK gained 8.2 per cent or Rs 27.9 to close at Rs 371.4 on the back of its recording a 70 per cent rise in profits over the previous year. MRPL also rose 4.4 per cent to Rs 48.3 after declaring impressive results for FY05.

The stocks of IPCL and Alok Industries were among the others that gained on the back of good results.

CRISIL was another strong gainer during the day's session; it gained 12.35 per cent or Rs 87.1 to close at Rs 792.20. S&P now owns a 51-per cent stake in CRISIL, as a sufficient number of investors have accepted their open offer for the latter.

The stock of Shipping Corporation of India put on 3.7 per cent or Rs 5.45 to close at Rs 151.80. The gains can be viewed in the context of the Government's proposal to sell a 15-per cent stake in the company.

Others that gained include Jet Airways, Malwa Cotton, Atul, Havell's India, Visaka Industries, Esab India and Rajasthan Spinning.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Fixed maturity plans gaining in popularity

Benchmark lifts limit on corpus size for derivative fund

Post S&P offer — Crisil hits 52-wk high

SRF gains on possible carbon credit benefits

Bears prevail

Navin Fluorine International jumps on patent talk

Outlook may turn negative for Nifty

Infotech stocks face slump again

Guwahati HC stays Shoppers' Stop IPO

CyberMedia IPO opens on May 4