The Hindu Business Line : Markets end in negative zone despite last hour surge

THE markets took a breather after a five-day winning streak and closed the week in negative territory. The Sensex closed 15.7 points lower while the Nifty shed about 10 points.

On Friday, the markets opened on a negative note and stayed volatile throughout the trading session.

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Weakness in other Asian markets dampened the market sentiment. The undertone remained largely bearish as investors booked profits.

The market breadth was negative; as many as 960 stocks declined in value while 272 of them managed to move up. The Sensex, during its intra-day trade reached a low of 8527.4, losing over 100 points from its previous close.

However, last minute buying helped the benchmark index wipe out a greater proportion of early losses. The Nifty which lost over 40 points in intra-day trade, settled at 2606.3,down by 0.2 per cent.

Although there was across-the-board selling, it was the mid-cap and small-cap stocks that came in for selling pressure.

Amongst those that bore the brunt of the bear attack were IFSL, Allsec Technologies, Jindal Drilling, Gujarat Ambuja Exports, Indiabulls, ING Vysya Bank, Essel Propack, Shaw Wallace, Hindustan Oil Exploration and Spice Jet.

Cranes Software, Gateway Distriparks, Abbott India and Gokaldas Exports were among the few in the space, which managed to negate the trend.

Buying in most of the old economy stocks such as Bajaj Auto, Tata Power, Reliance Energy and HDFC held the markets from a major fall. Others that rallied sharply were Bharat Forge, Exide Industries, National Fertilizers, Syndicate Bank and Union Bank.

Selective buying interest among the IT stocks helped markets gather momentum. Tata Consultancy Services rose by 0.7 per cent on hopes that it may get more orders from Tata Group's associate companies. The software major had won an order worth Rs 1,000 cr from Tata Telecommunications on September 28.

Satyam, i-flex, MphasiS, Mastek, Polaris, HCL Technologies and Patni Computers also added respectable gains. Infosys, Wipro, Scandent Solutions and Geometric Software, however, ended in the red.

Stocks of Colgate Palmolive, Gillette India, Nirma, Tata Coffee, Marico, Dabur India and Radico Khaitan were notable gainers in the FMCG sector.

Select stocks in the metals space had a fine outing. Kalyani Steel was a significant gainer, which shot up 6.6 per cent. Monnet Ispat, Tata Steel, Jindal Stainless and Madras Aluminium posted moderate gains. Jindal Saw and SAL Steel, however, lost sheen.

Select stocks in the capital goods space witnessed widespread buying activity. Counters of Thermax, Kalpataru, HEG, Siemens, Havell India, SKF India and ESAB India were buzzing with activity on the back of strong buying interest.

KEC International added 0.4 per cent after the maker of power transmission equipment bagged an order worth Rs 82 cr from the State-run Power Grid Corporation of India.

On a day marked by high volatility and weakness, a good number of stocks in the pharmaceutical sector recorded healthy doses of profits. Leading the list were Abbott India, Pfizer, Aventis Pharma, Dr Reddy's and Elder Pharma. Merck, Matrix, Divi's Lab and Ajanta Pharma ended with marginal gains.

Among the oil and energy stocks, ONGC, HPCL, IOC, Essar Oil, BPCL and Petronet LNG ended in negative territory.

Banking sector stocks, which remained subdued on Thursday, found favour with investors. Fresh buying interest in the stocks of Union Bank, Allahabad Bank, Canara Bank, Oriental Bank, ICICI Bank and Punjab National Bank helped them end on a firm note.

Significant losers on the Nifty were Aegis Logistics, Alstom Projects, Balrampur Chini, Centurion Bank, Era Constructions, Greenply Industries, Indian Rayon, MM Forgings, Visaka Industries, Timex, Timken India and TVS Motor.

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