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Radhika Kamath

MARKETS opened the week with a bang, with bulls prevailing for most of the day.

While the Sensex gained 40 points, Nifty was up by 21.5 points. Unabated buying interest coupled with upward rally in the global markets was instrumental in the indices gaining significantly.

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The bellwether indices opened on a firm note and gained ground following a smart rally in the stocks of Satyam, ONGC, BHEL, Maruti, Reliance and ICICI Bank.

The Sensex opened the week at 6,504.9, reached an intra-day high of 6,549.7, before settling to close at 6,539.8, up by 0.6 per cent from its previous close. The S&P CNX Nifty opened at 1,992.1, crossed the 2,000 mark during the day, before closing at 2,013.9, registering a gain of over one per cent.

The bulls were very active on the bourses, which was reflected in the advances to decline ratio of 2.6. There was widespread action across the counters of mid-cap and small-cap stocks.

The BSE small-cap was an outperformer, clocking a gain of 1.4 per cent.

Those that gained significantly were VIP Industries, Su-Raj Diamonds and Punjab Alkalies and Chemicals.

The positive sentiment was prevalent among the pharma, oil, auto, banking, and consumer goods sectors.

Among the pharma stocks, Elder Pharma shot up by Rs 14.4 to close at Rs 194.4. Matrix Labs, Glenmark Pharma, Morepen Lab, Divi's Lab, Aventis Pharma and Dishman Pharma also recorded smart gains.

Active buying was seen across the counters of frontline and second-rung IT stocks which kept the indices moving upwards. TCS was a significant gainer, up Rs 56 or 4.8 per cent.

Satyam, Sonata Software, Geometric Software, HCL Technologies and NIIT were other notable gainers. Infosys and Rolta ended the day in the red.

Much of the market action was witnessed among the auto stocks. CEAT was a top gainer, flaring up 6.9 per cent to close at Rs 99.3.

Munjal Auto, Maruti, M&M and Hero Honda ended with smart gains.

The oil and energy stocks also put up a smart show. BPCL, HPCL, ONGC, IOC, Reliance Energy and Chennai Petroleum moved up sharply.

Among the banking stocks, UTI Bank, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Union Bank witnessed selective buying interest, while SBI ended with marginal gains.

In the consumer durables space, Crompton Greaves, Alfa Laval, ABB, Thermax and Gammon India were up adding to the buoyancy in the market.

However, weakness was seen among the metals and FMCG stocks, which came in for sharp selling pressure.

SAIL, Tata Steel, Ispat, Bhushan Steel and Strips and Jindal Stainless shed value on concerns of fall in steel prices and weakening of demand. Among the non-ferrous stocks, National Aluminium and Madras Aluminium ended in positive territory.

The FMCG stocks also failed to attract the investors; HLL, Nestle, ITC, Tata Tea and Britannia tumbled down.

Stock specific action

Reliance Industries gained on a TV report quoting the Finance Minister that the Ambani brothers may be moving towards a settlement of their ownership dispute.

Deccan Chronicle declined by two per cent to close at Rs 195.8 after the company announced its decision to raise its stake in Asian Age Holdings to 90 per cent.

Ramco Systems added Rs 10.1 to its stock on reports that the company had won an order from BCL Springs for supplying software that will help to monitor inventory.

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