Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Saturday, Oct 22, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Saturday, Oct 22, 2005 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Markets
-
Commentary Columns - Sensor Good Q2 nos put bulls back in driver's seat Radhika Kamath
AFTER wilting under bearish sentiment for three consecutive sessions, markets rebounded with a strong note of optimism. All-round buying helped the Sensex post a gain of 133.8 points, while the broader Nifty ended 48.3 points higher. On Friday, markets opened on a positive note but witnessed a high degree of volatility in the intra-day trade. Sensex recovered by over 160 points from an intra-day low of 7901.1. Impressive results by domestic companies along with a fall in global crude prices helped the markets stage a smart comeback. Recovery was also on account of huge short covering in the F&O segment. FIIs continued to be on selling spree and turned net sellers to the tune of Rs 71.1 cr on Friday. However, strong retail participation arrested the downward spiral that plagued the markets in the past few sessions and contributed to the market's rally. The Sensex closed the week at 8068.9 while Nifty settled down at 2443.8. Telecom stocks recorded smart gains after the Government formally notified the hike in FDI limit for telecom sector from the current 49 per cent to 74 per cent. Bharti Televentures flared by 5.5 per cent. VSNL and MTNL gained 6.6 and 1.1 per cent respectively. Bullish sentiment was more pronounced among the frontline stocks that were instrumental in lifting the indices from their intra-day lows. Significant among the gainers were Tata Power, Hero Honda, Wipro, ITC, Maruti, Reliance, Tata Steel, Tata Motors and ONGC. Stocks of Arvind Mills, Reliance Capital, BHEL, Engineers India and Alstom Projects also ended on a strong note. Information technology sector stocks had a fine outing. Good earnings card of Wipro kept the momentum in the stock high. It closed with a gain of 4.5 per cent. Others that moved up in sync with the market included Satyam, TCS, Aptech, Ramco Systems, i-flex Solutions and 3i InfoTech. Buoyed by the announcement of interim dividend, the stock of Sonata Software added 4.8 per cent. Counters of mid-cap and small-cap stocks were also buzzing with activity. Those that recorded sharp gains were Shaw Wallace, Praj Industries, Kirloskar Brothers, Alok Industries, SRF, Sundaram Fasteners and Voltas. Small-cap stocks were not far behind their larger counterparts. Strong buying interest in the stocks of Rallis India and Aarvee Denim helped them end with strong gains. The stocks gained 19.2 and 16.6 per cent respectively. Metal stocks, which had been hit badly in the recent correction, rebounded strongly on the back of fresh buying interest. Jindal Stainless, Jindal Saw, Tata Steel, Tinplate and Tata Metaliks notched up significant gains. Maharashtra Seamless, which reported a 41 per cent increase in its Q2 profits on Thursday, closed 6.5 per cent higher. Laggards in the category included Hindustan Zinc, JSW Steel, Mahindra Ugine and Jindal Steel and Power. In the FMCG space, the bulls made their presence widely felt. Dabur India, ITC, Marico, Crew BOS and Satnam Overseas led the gainers' pack. Few of them, which came in for selling pressure included the likes of Ruchi Soya, Nirma, Tata Tea and Wimco. Most stocks in the pharmaceutical sector also recorded good doses of gains. Sterling Biotech and Aventis Pharma were up by 7.9 and 7.3 per cent respectively. Sun Pharma, Morepen Lab, Abbott India, Dr Reddy's and Merck also ended in positive territory. The stock of the domestic major, Ranbaxy stayed depressed after the drugmaker came out with disappointing Q3 numbers. It closed at Rs 389.6,down 3.1 per cent. There was a mixed bag of response among the banking sector stocks. Canara Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Vijaya Bank and HDFC Bank moved up while Andhra Bank, UTI Bank, Union Bank and Allahabad Bank shed value. Oriental Bank of Commerce lost 1.6 per cent after it announced a 23 per cent dip in its Q2 profits.
Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page
|
Stories in this Section |
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | The Hindu Images | Home |
Copyright © 2005, The
Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu Business Line
|
