The Hindu Business Line : Tech, metal stocks lead market rally

Persistent buying by FIIs and a rally in the global markets contributed to the market's buoyancy. While the Sensex was up 67.4 points, the Nifty recorded a gain of about 17.5 points.

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The markets opened the day on a positive note and saw widespread action across the sectors. In the morning session, the technology and metal stocks saw strong buying support, which were instrumental in the markets recording early gains.

The Sensex opened seven points higher than its earlier close, reached an intra-day high of 7296.2, and closed at 7287.6.The Nifty opened on a flat note at 2211.4, rallied to 2232.7,while finally closing at 2228.2.

The market breadth was largely positive. Twenty-one out of the 30 stocks constituting the BSE advanced while eight of them shed value. There was a fresh bout of buying activity among the mid-cap and small-cap stocks, which put up a smart rally.

The BSEMIDCAP and BSESMLCAP were up 1.9 and 1.7 per cent respectively.

Karnataka Bank was a significant gainer whose stock surged 20.8 per cent on speculation that investors may acquire a stake in the bank. It closed at Rs 116.9.

Crest Animation, Financial Technologies, Indiabulls, Mukta Arts, Reliance Capital, SpiceJet and Alstom Projects also netted handsome gains.

There was selective buying interest among the IT stocks. Sonata Software, i-flex, Geometric Software, Polaris and Infosys ended the day in the positive territory. However, Hexaware, Ramco Systems, Wipro, TCS and Patni Computers remained subdued.

There was widespread action across the counters of consumer durables stocks. BPL was a prominent gainer, which flared 10 per cent. Videocon International shot up 9.7 per cent after reports that it plans to merge with Videocon Industries. Blue Star, Titan and Su-Raj Diamonds also attracted the investors.

In the capital goods space, ABB, Alstom, Alfa Laval, HMT, BHEL, Thermax, L&T and Siemens witnessed strong buying interest

It was a good day for the metal stocks, which rose sharply following the rise in aluminium prices on the LME.

Essar, Lloyd Steel, Ispat and Sesa Goa were up. Jindal Vijaynagar, SAIL, Tata Steel, Hindalco, National Aluminium and Navbharat Ferro Alloys also recorded modest gains.

Stocks of most private sector banks rose sharply on speculation that there could be an acquisition of stake in these banks.

IndusInd Bank, Federal Bank and Karnataka Bank jumped up sharply. Others that followed the rally were Indian Overseas Bank, SBI, HDFC Bank, Canara Bank, Allahabad Bank, Oriental Bank and Kotak Bank.

There was a mixed bag of response among the FMCG stocks. While Jindal Photo, McDowell, Nirma, Henkel Spic, Britannia, ITC and Tata Tea made modest gains, Ruchi Soya, Nestle, Colgate Palmolive and Shaw Wallace exhibited weakness.

Most of the frontline stocks in the auto sector came in for selling pressure. Maruti, Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and Tata Motors led the losers' pack. M&M was up 2.6 per cent after the company said it plans to sell shares of its group companies for the first time. Hindustan Motors, Rane Madras, TVS Motors and Punjab Tractors also managed to post moderate gains.

On the back of fresh round of buying interest, power and cement stocks notched up significantly. NTPC, Tata Power, Reliance Energy, Gujarat Ambuja, ACC and Grasim put up a smart show.

Other notable gainers on the Nifty were Apollo Tyres, Arvind Mills, GE Shipping, IVRCL, Pantaloon Retail, Titan and Gokaldas Exports.

Those that suffered losses included Amara Raja Batteries, Balaji Telefilms, ConCor and MM Forgings.

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