The Hindu Business Line : Profit-bookings check market progress

THE consumer-price report on the US economy, which suggested that growth was sustainable without activating inflation, appeared to have energised major markets across the globe.

Prompted by gains on the major markets across the globe, the domestic markets opened on a high note. The markets were up sharply in the early hours of trade. At one point of time nearly 80 per cent of the stocks on the BSE figured on the gainers list. The markets, however, on profit-booking lost steam in the after noon session to close with marginal gains. The advances-decline ratio at the end of the day, which stood at 5:2, reflected the subdued bullish sentiment that prevailed towards the close.

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Within minutes of trading the BSE Sensex reached an intra day high of 6,538.19. Later, the index moved lower on a slow pace. However, in the last hour trade the Sensex lost about 20 points on account of profit-booking. It closed with a gain of 31.94 points at 6,478.94.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened on a strong note at 1,983.75 points. It moved on similar lines as the Nifty to touch a high of 2,008.35. The 2,000-mark yet again evaded the Nifty as it lost substantially towards close. The Nifty finally settled at about 9 points short of 2,000, registering a gain of 0.41 per cent.

Metal stocks lost value as metal prices in the Asian markets appeared to soften. The major losers among the steel stocks were Tata Metaliks, Jindal Vijaynagar Steel, Ispat Industries, Lloyd Steel and Electro Steel Castings. Tata Steel was able to mitigate the slide as the company had declared a 44 per cent jump in Q4 profits. Essar Steel and Sesa Goa figured among the gainers.

The Shipping Ministry's proposal to divest 15 per cent stake in Shipping Corporation helped the stock move higher. It hit an intra day high of Rs 152.7 before settling at Rs 150.95.

Other gainers in the shipping sector were Essar Shipping, Garware Shipping, Shreyas Shipping, Varun Shipping and Great Eastern Shipping.

Positive news from consumer price reports on the US economy and higher ADR prices of Infosys created buying in Infosys. Close to three lakh shares were traded on the BSE, the stock crossed the Rs 2,100, losing steam it later settled at Rs 2,098.5. Riding on the same note were SSI, Datamatics, CMC, Mastek and Silverline.

Reports that ICICI Bank has acquired the second largest lender in Russia caused buying interest in the stock. A three-fold jump in volumes at 1.81 lakh shares on the BSE was recorded. The stock reached an intra-day high of Rs 412.2, Rs 16.8 short of the 52-week high. On profit booking the stock lost steam to close at Rs 393.35.

ING Vysya Bank declared a net profit of Rs 4.69 crore for the fourth quarter as compared to a loss of Rs 23.26 crore a year earlier. The stock despite low volumes closed with a gain of about three per cent. Other gainers in the banking sector were Oriental Bank of Commerce, Bank of India, Corporation Bank and Union Bank.

High trading activity took place on the SPIC counter after reports that the company had entered into an agreement with Liquefied Natural Gas of Australia to supply 36 lakh metric tonnes of LNG over a 20 year period to its fertiliser facility in Tuticorin. Accompanied by a nine-fold jump in volumes, the stock hit a high of Rs 23.3. It closed for the day with a gain of about 10 per cent. Manali Petrochemicals falling within the same group also was highly active. The stock has gained about 28 per cent since April 19, the stock closed at Rs 16.95.

Prominent gainers among the Nifty constituents were Bajaj Auto, TCS, Tata Chemicals, HDFC Bank, Dabur and Glaxo.

Significant losers among the stocks that constitute the Nifty were Reliance Energy, Reliance, Hindalco, GAIL, SBI and Cipla.

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