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Index heavy weight Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) was among the major gainers. The stock gained 4.9 per cent at Rs 138.10 on the BSE with volumes of 18.74 lakh shares; on the NSE, it closed at Rs 138.20, up 4.66 per cent, with volumes of 52.88 lakh shares.

Dealers said the interest in the stock has come after the hike in the price of its major toothpaste brands. The FMCG major has increased the price of its two main toothpastes - Pepsodent and Close-Up - by 5 per cent. The talk indicates that the hike in price shows revival of the sector as a whole. In the past, HLL had been cutting the prices due to sluggish demand and increased competition. Besides, there is buying on expectation of good April-June quarter results.

LKP betting on numbers

INVESTMENT banking and stock broking firm LKP Merchant Banking Finance has been in the limelight over the last few days on the bourses. The stock gained 11.7 per cent at Rs 22.62 on the BSE with volumes of 76,597 shares on Friday. The stock price of the company has doubled in the last one month.

Dealers said the interest in the stock is due to its good financial results. The talk is that on consolidated basis, the company's EPS for 2004-05 would be around Rs 8-10 and the current fiscal would be even much better.

The company's stock and forex broking had done very well last year. Another reason for the interest in the stock is due to the overall interest in the financial services companies. Stock price of broking firms such as India Bulls and JM Financial have run-up very fast recently.

Shifting hurts them

MID-CAP and Small-cap stocks that were in vogue for the last few days came under heavy selling when the main indices such as Sensex and Nifty closed higher. The BSE Sensex gained 0.55 per cent and the NSE Nifty by 0.08 per cent while BSE's Mid-Cap index was down 0.34 per cent and Small-Cap index 1.09 per cent.

Dealers said the fall in these stocks was due to major players shifting their positions to large-cap stocks. The talk is that several market players have shifted their positions to large-caps in order to keep their profits safe as the small- and mid-cap stocks have run-up very fast.

Virendra Verma

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