The Hindu Business Line : Sensex posts biggest gain in two weeks

The Sensitive Index surged 162.1 points or 2 per cent to 8471. The Sensex had opened the day with a low of 8332.9. Higher industrial production, declining oil prices and firm trends in the global markets may have lifted investor sentiments as the markets made their northbound journey.

The country's industrial production outpaced expectations and grew 7.3 per cent in September. In the broader markets, the S&P CNX Nifty was up 48 points to 2548.7.

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Mid-cap stocks responded to the optimistic sentiment and put up a smart rally. Mid-cap indices at the BSE and NSE gained by about 1.5 per cent.

Alembic put up a smart show to gain 15.4 per cent to Rs 289.1. Torrent Power AEC, Essar Oil and Hindustan Construction made gains of more than 10 per cent.

In the basket of BSE 30 (Sensex), Wipro led the list of gainers. The stock surged 4.8 per cent to Rs 404. Hero Honda, NTPC, Bajaj Auto and Satyam Computer Services were other key gainers. There were no losers in the Sensex portfolio.

Telecom stocks were in action after the Government announced a cut in licence fee payable by companies offering long distance services. The percentage of revenue that telecom companies are required to share with the Government has also been reduced.

Bharti Tele-Ventures added Rs 9.8 or 2.8 per cent to Rs 352.7. VSNL gained 0.9 per cent to Rs 311.6.

Pharma stocks ruled firm. Major gainers among the heavyweights include Biocon and Ranbaxy. A Norwegian court ruling in favour of Ranbaxy in the patent case for Pfizer's Lipitor appeared to have given a lift to the stock that was languishing for the past couple of weeks.

Refinery stocks continued to advance on the back of declining crude oil prices. Crude futures fell 1.9 per cent to $57.8 per barrel. Bharat Petroleum and Petronet LNG surged more than 5 per cent. Hindustan Petroleum and IOC also ended in the green.

Chennai Petroleum, however, declined by 2.3 per cent to Rs 237.90.

Auto stocks witnessed renewed buying interest. Escorts rose 8 per cent to Rs 77. Tata Motors and Bajaj Auto regained its glory with a 4 per cent gain to Rs 1873. Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Punjab Motors also evinced buying interest.

Banking stocks reversed Thursday's trend and made smart gains. BSE Bankex and Bank Nifty advanced by two per cent. Oriental Bank of Commerce was up by 4 per cent to Rs 247. Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank and ICICI Bank joined the bandwagon and closed with gains.

BSE Consumer durables index was the biggest gainer among the sectoral indices.

Videocon International, BPL, Bluestar and Salora International led the rally in the consumer durables space. Shrenuj and Whirlpool, however, succumbed to pressure from the bears and ended in the red.

Stock specific action

Aptech surged 5.6 per cent to Rs 129.50 after the company announced its plan to raise its overseas investment limit. Bharat Heavy Electricals added Rs 47.5 to Rs 1,394.6 after reports that the company expected to increase sales from overseas market from Rs 100 crore to Rs 400 crore in four years.

Satyam Computer rallied by 3.4 per cent. On Thursday, the company had announced sale of its 32 per cent stake in Sify.

JSW Steel has signed a contract with Siemens VAI for setting up a blast furnace in its Vijayanagar unit in Karnataka. The stock closed at Rs 214.40 after adding 2.4 per cent.

Major gainers among the Nifty constituents include HCL Technologies, GE Shipping, i-flex Solutions and TVS Motor.

Tata Chemicals, ABB, Sundaram Finance and Lumax were conspicuous losers.

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