The Hindu Business Line : Markets turn weak in volatile trade

Except for a brief period in the afternoon trade, when the Sensex was in positive territory, the rest of the day it remained in the red. The Sensex opened at 6,486.08, touched a high of 6,494.91 points, and a low of 6,439.69 in the last hour of trading, before recovering to close at 6,454.91 points. The market breadth, however, remained positive, with 1,230 stocks advancing in value while 1,081 stocks logged declines.

Among the BSE Sectoral Indices, the indices that outperformed the Sensex were Consumer Durables, Bankex, Healthcare and PSU. All the other indices such as Auto, IT, Metals, Oil & Gas and Capital Goods shed more than the Sensex.

The S&P CNX Nifty also moved in line with the Sensex, shedding 6.45 points (or 0.32 per cent) and closing marginally below 2,000 points. Among the Nifty, the prominent gainers during the day were ICICI Bank, Tata Power, ACC, Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Punjab National Bank and HCL Technologies. The key losers were Oriental Bank, Bharat Petroleum, Tata Motors, Dr Reddy's and TCS.

In marked contrast to the Nifty, the Nifty Junior ended in the positive territory with a 0.03 per cent gain. The other indices such as CNX 500 and Mid-cap 200, however, ended in the red.

Among the Nifty Junior constituents, the key gainers were MphasiS BFL and a clutch of banking stocks such as Canara Bank, Vysya Bank, Vijaya Bank, IDBI, Union Bank of India and Bank of Baroda. The prominent losers were Bongaigaon Refinery, Chennai Petro, Kochi Refineries, CMC and LIC Housing Finance.

In a day which was marked by relatively lacklustre trading activity, the prominent gainers outside the index stocks were Balkrishna Industries, Mafatlal Industries, Kalpataru Papers, Samtel Colour, Infomedia and a host of software stocks such as MphasiS BFL, SQL Star International and Encore Software.

Riding on the back of strong trading volumes, the Balkrishna Industries stock shot up by Rs 94.95 (or 20 per cent) to settle for the day at Rs. 569.85. The trading volumes jumped nearly 10-fold from 4,640 shares on Monday's trading to 47,397 shares during the day. The uptrend has to be seen in the light of the decision of its board to consider a bonus offer subject to the approval of the shareholders.

Mafatlal Industries was the other prominent gainer with the stock appreciating by Rs 4.3 (or 17.4 per cent) to close at Rs 29. Compared to 7,328 shares traded on Monday, the trading volumes in the stock surged to 76,288 shares during the day's trading.

The MphasiS BFL stock attracted heightened trading activity, with the stock moving up by Rs 15.85 (or 6.42 per cent) to close at Rs 262.70. The trading volumes shot up from nearly three-fold to 2.31 lakh shares. The uptrend has to be seen in the backdrop of the decision by the private equity investor, Barings decision to put up its 36 per cent shareholder for sale through the bidding process. The bidding process is expected to attract a clutch of high-profile investors, in India and abroad. Moving in sympathy some of the small cap-stocks rose in value.

Among the significant losers were Chowgule, Electrosteel Castings, Bongaigaon Refinery, Satvahana Ispat and Helios & Matheson.

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

Stories in this Section
Bears prevail

Mirabaud Cie plans to launch India-specific fund

Dr Reddy's on `downgrade' fever

Flextronics calls for EGM to delist from BSE, NSE

Archies up on retail card

Samtel Color jumps on strong show

Outlook may turn negative for ONGC, GAIL

Markets turn weak in volatile trade

SBI Caps seeks to regain share in IPO market