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Alagappan Arunachalam

THE markets, which opened on a weak note, gave into pressure from the bears as the bellwether indices stepped into negative territory.

The negative sentiment failed to hold on for long as the bulls stepped in from nowhere to stage a coup. The positive sentiment that prevailed towards close was underlined by the advances-declines ratio of 2:1.

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The BSE Sensex opened weak at 7194.25; the index moved flat in the morning session. However, yielding to selling pressure in the early hours of the post lunch session, it dipped twice into the negative territory to touch a low of 7178.09 points.

The reversal in sentiment helped the index gain at a scorching pace to close with a gain of 83.84 points at 7271.54 points.

The S&P CNX Nifty opened on a subdued note; the volatile sentiment that prevailed aided the dip and the subsequent resurge. Towards close, the Nifty hit a high of 2216.5 points. It later closed on a positive note with a gain of 1.26 per cent.

Aided by a buoyant phase in the telecom, IT and oil sectors, the markets closed on a positive note for the week.

The banking sector index on the BSE was the odd one out. The index declined .65 per cent. Index heavy weights HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and Canara Bank declined more than 1 per cent. The other losers in the banking sector were UTI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Bank and IndusInd Bank.

Aided by a five-fold surge in volumes, Yes Bank put on a sharp gain of 7.77 per cent. Positive sentiment prevailed on the Bank of India counter. It put on a gain of 3.48 per cent on flat volumes.

The auto sector was on a firm upward trend with a majority of the stocks posting gains in excess of 1 per cent. Escorts was up more than 4 per cent, accompanied by a surge in volumes. Over the week, the stock has gained 24 per cent in the last five sessions.

The positive sentiment flowed into the auto ancillary stocks Bharat Forge and Exide Industries.

Followed by a 15.4-per cent rise on Thursday, ITI was up 8 per cent. The company in the closing hours on Thursday announced that it had won an order worth Rs 1233 crore for setting up GSM mobile networks for BSNL. VSNL was another gainer in the telecom sector. Accompanied by a significant surge in volumes, the stock has gained 48 per cent since a month ago. Other gainers in the space were Bharti Tele-Ventures, Himachal Futuristic, Tata Teleservices and MTNL.

Accompanied by a 15-fold jump in volumes, Hindustan Oil Exploration gained 6.07 per cent. Buying interest in the stock helped it on its northward march to touch a high of 52-week high of Rs 174.3. Other gainers in the oil sector were Bongaigaon Refinery, Kochi Refineries and MRPL.

A 30-per cent fall in first quarter earnings prompted a 4-per cent drop in Tata Sponge Iron. A four-fold surge in volumes indicates the negative sentiment that prevailed.

Steel Strips Wheels jumped 5 per cent after the company bagged an order worth Rs 120 crore from PSA Peugeot Citreon of Europe for wheel rims. However, volumes were plateaud as the stock hit the upper circuit filter.

Allahabad Bank's quarterly result did not amuse market participants; the stock failed to make any significant movement. The bank announced an 18-per cent growth in earnings.

Accompanied by a two-fold jump in volumes, Bilcare, which acquired ProClinical a research drug company in the US through its wholly owned subsidiary based in Singapore, leaped 6 per cent.

A 21-per cent earnings growth in the first quarter by HDFC failed to create any impact in the markets. It closed with a gain of Rs 6 at Rs 886.8.

Prominent gainers among the Nifty constituents were Reliance Industries, ABB, TCS, GAIL, Tata Motors and HCL Technologies.

Significant losers on the Nifty list were Tata Chemicals, Colgate, Tata Power, SAIL and Gujarat Ambuja Cement.

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