The Hindu Business Line : Sensex ends positive despite bearish odds

MARKETS bounced back to positive turf after aggressive buying towards the close of Friday's session. Optimism in the Reliance counter, continued buying by foreign institutional investors and rally in global markets helped the benchmark Sensex to close in the green.

The Sensex started on a weak note and further declined as aggressive profit-taking dragged the index to an intra-day low of 6855.5. It, however, managed to close at 6906.5 (up 6.11 points), short of its record close of 6915 on March 8.

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The bearish sentiment that prevailed for most part of the day was reflected in the advance decline ratio of 0.2:1.

The S&P CNX Nifty, however, failed to follow suit and closed at 2123.4, 0.3 points lesser than its previous close. The CNX-IT managed to close on positive grounds.

As oil and gas, IT and metal stocks weathered the challenges, bank, auto, FMCG and pharma stocks bore the brunt of the negative sentiments that prevailed during most part of the day.

The major gainers in the BSE-30 portfolio were Reliance, HDFC, Wipro, Hindalco and Maruti Udyog.

Reliance stocks traded at a 52-week high and surged by 1.8 per cent, closing at Rs 600.8. HDFC rose by 2 per cent after it had announced along with ICICI Bank that the interest rates on home loans would be increased by half a percentage point.

The prominent losers were Grasim Industries, Tata Power, SBI, Larsen & Toubro and Dr Reddy's Lab.

In the capital goods sector Praj Industries declined 3 per cent as the announcement of the company board's approval of a bonus issue and stock split failed to impress the market.

Alfa Laval, Elgi Equipment and Alstom joined the band, while Astra Microware and Lakshmi Machine Works withstood the selling pressures and closed with marginal gains.

Consumer durables section saw most of its frontline stocks, barring Blue Star, ruling weak. Whirlpool, BPL, Videocon and Titan were some of the prominent losers.

The information technology wing witnessed strong buying interest in the stocks of Satyam, Infosys, Hexaware, Polaris and CMC. Ramco Systems, Aptech and Tata Infotech however, ended in the red.

The media stocks which saw intense buying activity on Thursday, stayed out of rally for the day. TV Today fell by 9 per cent after its quarter ended March 2005 profits declined by 30 per cent. Deccan Chronicle, NDTV, CyberMedia and Navneet Publications also finished lower.

The mood in pharma stocks remained positive with Aarti Drugs continuing its smart rally, along with Elder Pharma, Matrix Labs and Merck. Morepen, Suven Life and Novartis failed to recover and closed on negative grounds.

The metal and oil stocks played a major part in assisting the benchmark sensitive index to hold ground. Jindal Steel, Hindalco, Tata Steel, SAIL and Sterlite were some of the metal stocks, which made respectable gains. Among the oil stocks HPCL, BPCL, Castrol India and Petronet LNG also joined the gainers' bandwagon.

The auto stocks suffered losses as concerns that rising oil prices might affect sales pulled the bourses down. Swaraj Engine, Apollo Tyre, Hindustan Motors, Rane Brake Linings and J.K. Industries were worst hit. The frontline stocks of Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Udyog however closed in the green.

Corporate action: Engineers India declined 2.6 per cent. The company had earlier announced a 63 per cent increase in its profits for the fourth quarter ended March 2005.

The stocks of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance and Tube Investments surged initially after the news that 37.5 per cent of Cholamandalam will be picked by DBS Bank of Singapore. The stocks later succumbed to bearish forces.

GE Shipping, Jaiprakash Associates and Syndicate bank were notable gainers in the Nifty constituents while IFCI, Vysya Bank, DCM and Moser-Baer were prominent losers.

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