Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Aug 04, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Aug 04, 2005 |
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Markets
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Commentary Columns - Sensor Selling pressure in last hour nullifies gains Radhika Kamath
THE markets opened with a bang on Wednesday and rallied sharply as they reached a historic high. However, heavy bout of selling activity in the last hour of trade wiped off the day's gains as the markets ended the day on a flat note. While the benchmark Sensex closed 0.4 point higher, the Nifty was up by 3.4 points. High expectations from Reliance's AGM along with reports of higher spending by US pushed the stock prices of Reliance and Infosys in the early hours of trade. But the gains in Reliance stock were short-lived as disappointed investors booked profits, following no special announcements. However, heavy institutional buying, encouraging results and firm global markets kept the bullish sentiment high. The Sensex reached a historic high of 7843.8, slipped to a low of 7740.8 before it settled down at 7756.5. The Nifty opened on a strong note at 2359.1, rallied to an intra day high of 2377 before it closed at 2357. There was active interest among the IT stocks, which kept the markets buoyant. While the BSE IT Index shot up by 2.2 per cent, CNX IT gained 1.8 per cent. However, mid-cap and small-cap counters, which witnessed heavy buying interest in the past few weeks, came in for sharp selling pressure. In the IT space, Infosys was a prominent gainer whose stock was up by 2.5 per cent. Following the IT giant, TCS, Wipro and Satyam also jumped up. Second rung IT stocks also witnessed renewed buying interest. The stocks of Polaris, i-flex, Patni Computers, Geometric Software and HCL Technologies rallied sharply. However, Sonata Software, Hexaware and Rolta ended the day in the red. Triggered by the good progress of the monsoon across the country, most of the FMCG stocks witnessed strong buying. ITC added Rs 44.7 to its stock on the back of approval of a stock split by the Board. Jindal Photo, Tata Coffee, Ruchi Soya, Nirma, Marico, Nestle, Tata Tea and United Breweries put up respectable gains. However, profit booking among HLL, Bata, Britannia and Satnam Overseas dragged the stocks down. Sugar stocks were in limelight after the lifting of ban on sugar imports by Pakistan. Dwarikesh Sugar, Balrampur Chini and Dhampur Sugar put up smart gains. Oil and energy stocks that had a field day on Tuesday, took a severe beating. Stocks of refining companies such as HPCL, Kochi Refineries, MRPL, GAIL and BPCL were the worst hit. However, IOC and ONGC managed to buck the trend. Selective buying interest was seen among the stocks in the metals space. SAIL, Jindal Steel, Hindalco, Madras Aluminium, Sesa Goa, GMDC and Essar Steel ended in positive territory. However, Tata Steel, Monnet Ispat, Hindustan Zinc and Bhushan Steel exhibited weakness. It was yet another disappointing day for the banking sector stocks. A host of them that suffered losses included Indian Overseas Bank, Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, Union Bank, Corporation Bank and Allahabad Bank. Bulls were active across the counters of most pharmaceutical stocks. Counters of Lupin, Dishman Pharma, Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma, Abbott India and Dabur Pharma attracted widespread buying interest. Those that succumbed to the bear attack included Morepen Lab, Merck, Ranbaxy, Matrix Lab and Divi's Lab. Stock specific action: Engineering giant L&T added Rs 47.45 to its stock after it said that it plans to set up $11 m switchgear factory in China. It closed the day at Rs 1291.6. Orchid Chemicals gained 1.4 per cent after it received approval to sell its antibiotic drug in the US. Shri Ramrupai Balaji Steels, which made its trading debut on Tuesday, closed at Rs 23.1 against the issue price of Rs 22. Provogue was down by 2.6 per cent after Mumbai Police arrested its founder-director . Gujarat Ambuja shed 2.3 per cent after sales volume declined by 7.9 per cent in July from a year earlier.
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