The Hindu Business Line : Sectoral indices end in positive territory

THE dream run continued for the markets as the BSE Sensex marched up by 130.23 points (or 1.43 per cent) to close for the day at 9,263.90 points, a new all-time high.

The S & P CNX Nifty also followed the same course, closing 1.30 per cent higher at 2,812.30 points. In contrast, however, the activity in the mid-cap and small-cap segment was subdued, reflected in the BSE MIDCAP and BSE SMLCAP index, which inched up by only 0.42 and 0.08 per cent respectively. All the BSE sectoral indices ended in the positive territory, with the sole exception of consumer durables. The big gainers among sectors were FMCG, IT, metals, automobiles and banking.

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Among the Nifty constituents, the significant gainers during the day were Tata Motors, ACC, HDFC, M&M and Wipro. The losers were Jet Airways, Reliance Energy, Tata Power, Cipla and Dr Reddy's Labs. In the Nifty Junior index, the prominent gainers were Kotak Mahindra Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank, JP Associates and LIC Housing Finance. The losers were a clutch of IT stocks such as Polaris, MphasiS BFL and i-flex. The other losers were Bharat Forge, Punjab Tractors, Chennai Petroleum and ING Vysya Bank.

On the day in which the markets were peppered with gainers, two sectors, outside the sectoral indices that witnessed unusual activity were sugar and tea. Riding on the sharp upsurge in sugar prices, which is expected to sustain over a longer period, it turned out to be remarkably sweet day for sugar stocks. The day's rally in the sugar stocks was not confined to prominent sugar stocks such as Balrampur Chini and Bajaj Hindusthan. It was practically across-the-board, with stocks such as Dhampur Sugar, Renuka Sugar, Dharani Sugar, Riga Sugar, Oudh Sugar, Sakthi Sugar, JK Sugar, Simbhaoli Sugar, Rajshree Sugar and Rana Sugar marched up in the markets.

Stocks from the tea sector such as McLeod Russel, Dhunseri Tea and Warren Tea figured among the gainers during the day's trading. The McLeod Russel stock gained Rs 4.8 (or 7.9 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 65.15. The uptrend has to be seen in the light of McLeod Russel coming close to acquiring the Hindustan Lever owned Doom Dooma Tea Co based in Assam.

The stocks that marched up on high trading volumes were Ciba Speciality, Saregama India, Flex Industries and Mercator Lines.

In the backdrop of the decision of the Mercator Lines board to meet on December 20 to consider a preferential issue of equity, increase in investment limit for FII's and a bonus offer, the stock moved by Rs 7.7 (or 5.36 per cent) to settle at Rs 146.90.

The Geodesic Information Systems stock gained Rs 12.8 (or 5.3 per cent) to close for the day at Rs 251.20. This has to be seen in the light of the decision of Geodesic's board to issue equity shares of Rs 2 at a premium of Rs 233 on a preferential basis to resident and non-resident investors.

Some of the losers during the day were TVS Electronics, Hindustan Tin Works, Bilcare, Avaya Global and Bombay Dyeing.