The Hindu Business Line : Longest winning streak in 8 months for Sensex

RALLY in global markets, strong performance of ADS on Nasdaq and sustained buying interest in the frontline stocks helped the Indian markets end the week with smart gains.

With a gain of 36.9 points, Sensex witnessed its longest winning streak in more than eight months, while Nifty closed by about two points higher.

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Fresh buying interest among PSU and oil stocks accounted for the markets recording gains in the early session. Strong results by ITC, decision to offload 10 per cent stake in BHEL, encouraging reports showing growth of the US economy added to the market buoyancy.

The Sensex opened 18.8 points higher than its previous close, crossed the 6700 level mark as it moved on to reach an intra-day high of 6772.7. It finally closed at 6707.7, registering a gain of 0.5 per cent.

The 50 stock Nifty opened at 2073.3, reached a high of 2099.4 before settling to close at 2076.4.

The bull rally was widespread among the large-cap stocks, while the mid-cap and small-cap stocks witnessed selling pressure in the last two trading sessions. Bullish sentiment was very strong among the IT, pharma and metal stocks.

The BSE metal index outperformed the other indices with a gain of 1.5 per cent. While 18 stocks on the BSE 30 advanced, 12 of them shed value.

ITC added Rs 38.8 to its stock after the company announced better than expected results and recommended a dividend of Rs 31 per share. Its net profits for FY 05 were up by 38.9 per cent. HLL rose by 4.9 per cent after the company recently announced price hike for its toothpaste brands.

Ruchi Sugars, Marico, Tata Coffee, Henkel Spic and Shaw Wallace were also up.

The bulls were very active among the oil stocks. Hindustan Oil Exploration, HPCL and BPCL gained by 2.2 per cent on an average after the Government approved the hike in gas price for fertiliser and power companies. IOC and Kochi Refineries also ruled firm.

IT stocks continued to stay in limelight. Infosys, which saw huge response to its ADS closed 1.4 per cent higher at Rs 2,231.7.

Patni Computers was up by 4.6 per cent. Polaris, Satyam, Wipro, Igate Global and Hexaware also put up a smart show. However, there was profit-booking among the stocks of HCL Technologies, Geometric Software and TCS.

Metal stocks, which remained weak on Thursday, saw fresh buying interest that was instrumental in their rally. Jindal Vijaynagar Steel was the biggest gainer whose stock flared up by 3.7 per cent. While Tata Steel, National Aluminium, Sesa Goa, Navbharat Ferro Alloys and Ispat also rose sharply, Madras Aluminium, Bhushan Steel and Strips and SAIL were up marginally.

The bull rally on the markets was aided by fresh buying in the public sector stocks. IDBI surged 8 per cent on the back of large volumes. Shipping Corporation, BHEL, Indian Overseas Bank and MTNL recorded sharp gains.

Pharmaceutical stocks continued to exhibit firmness. Shashun Chemicals, which announced a 21 per cent rise in its Q4 net profits, was up by 5.4 per cent. While Wockhardt and Ranbaxy gained by 4.1 and 3.2 per cent respectively, Aventis, Cipla, Pfizer and Merck ended with modest gains.

Selective buying took place among the auto stocks. While Ashok Leyland, Maruti and M&M were up, Hero Honda, Tata Motors and Sundaram Fasteners came in for selling pressure. Eicher Motors was down sharply by 7.2 per cent.

Most of the banking stocks declined on account of profit-booking. The country's largest bank, SBI was down by 2.1 per cent. ICICI Bank, UCO Bank and Punjab National Bank also ended in the red. However, Bank of India, Corporation Bank and Oriental Bank managed to attract the bulls.

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