The Hindu Business Line : IT stocks dampen sentiment; mid-caps gain

There continued to be a marked divergence between the large and the mid-cap stocks. Over the past few sessions, mid-caps had been losing value while the index constituents gained.

But the positions were reversed on Thursday's trading, with both the BSE and the NSE's mid-cap indices closing higher, while the bellwether indices declined.

Both the CNX Midcap index and the BSE Midcap index put on value during the day's trading. Broader market indices such as the BSE 200 and the CNX 500 fared better than the Sensex and the Nifty on Thursday.

Data after the close of market hours showed that Foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers during the day, while domestic mutual funds remained net sellers.

Index movers:

Technology stocks proved to be dampers on sentiment during the day, with stocks such as Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services playing a key role in bringing down the indices. On the BSE, the Infosys stock lost Rs 47 to close at Rs 2,343. TCS also shed Rs 27 to close at Rs 1,306.

Reliance Industries shed a marginal portion of its recent gains and closed Rs 5 lower. Auto stocks helped contain the fall in the indices, with both Bajaj Auto and Hero Honda making substantial gains during the day's trading. Both companies have announced recent product launches. While Bajaj Auto recently commenced the sale of premium model -

Avenger, Hero Honda rolled out the mid-priced brand - Glamour during the day.

Other gainers in the Sensex included State Bank of India, which added over 3 per cent and Hindustan Lever, which continued to inch up, to close at Rs 155.1.

Ranbaxy Labs also gained on the company's announcement that it received tentative approval to market a specific formulation of a drug- Terbinafine Hydrochloride.

Reliance Group stocks had a mixed luck on Thursday. While Reliance Industries and Reliance Energy closed lower for the day, Reliance Capital gained 5 per cent, with significant trading volumes.

Active stocks:

Prime Securities, Teledata Informatics, and the newly listed Shree Ganesh Forgings were among the new entrants to the "most active" list and attracted significant trading volumes during the day.

Mid-cap movers:

Among the mid-cap stocks, Amara Raja Batteries was locked at the upper circuit, adding 20 per cent to its previous close. The stock also attracted significantly higher trading volumes. The company on Thursday announced a new agreement to supply 60,000 automotive batteries to Hyundai. The order is expected to be executed over the next 12 months.

Thomas Cook was another strong gainer adding 6 per cent during the day. Forbes Gokak and Prime Securities were the other strong gainers on the BSE, while Indian Hume Pipes, ITI and Infomedia India made it to the top gainers on the NSE.

Assam Company, which announced restructuring measures and Zandu Pharma also hit the upper end of the circuit filter during the day. Among the stocks that shed considerable value were Moser Baer, Aventis Pharma, India Card Clothing, Gillette India, 3M India and Blue Dart Express.

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IT stocks dampen sentiment; mid-caps gain