The Hindu Business Line : Capital goods, metals & pharma hog limelight

IT was a hat-trick of gains for markets as they ended on a strong note for the third consecutive day. Positive sentiment continued to sweep the markets, which marched ahead smartly. The Sensex finished the day at its historic high of 10,224.3, while the Nifty closed at 3,050.8.

Markets opened on a firm note but remained range-bound most part of the day. They went on to record sharp gains despite rising crude oil prices and a subdued trend across the Asian and US markets. In what could be termed as a pre-budget rally, stocks from sectors such as capital goods, pharma and metals hogged the limelight.

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Investors, however, stayed away from mid-cap and small-cap counters. Magma Leasing, Dena Bank, Deccan Chronicle, Praj Industries, EID Parry and Shriram Transport succumbed to the bearish onslaught. However, it was the widespread buying across the counters of frontline stocks that propelled the indices to higher levels. NTPC, HDFC, Ranbaxy, Tata Power, Tata Steel, Grasim and Hindalco witnessed huge buying support. Sensex, in its intra-day trade, reached a high of 10,237.6 before closing at 10,224.3, up by 56.2 points from its previous close.

The broader Nifty too closed with a gain of 15.3 points at 3,050.8.

Heightened buying: There was heightened buying activity among capital goods stocks. Aban Loyd was a significant gainer whose stock flared up by about 10 per cent. Crompton Greaves, TRF, BHEL, ABB, Areva and Manugraph India also made notable advances.

Bullish sentiment continued to prevail among pharmaceutical stocks. Surya Pharma was a notable gainer whose stock shot up by 3.9 per cent. Ranbaxy, Cipla, Abbott India, Lupin, Dishman Pharma, Elder Pharma and Matrix Labs also notched handsome gains among others. Those that came in for selling pressure included the likes of Morepen Labs, Dr Reddy's, Novartis, Glenmark Pharma, Solvay Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma.

Tea stocks after brewing huge gains in the past few sessions cooled off.

Tea loses flavour: Harrison Malayalam, William Tea Assam, McLeod Russel, Jayshree Tea and Goodricke Group failed to cheer the markets.

IT stocks were also characterised by lacklustre trading. Infosys, iGATE Global, Scandent Solutions, Hexaware, Four Soft and Rolta India exhibited weakness. Buying interest in Cranes Software, HCL Technologies and Allsec Technologies helped them end in positive territory.

Bank stocks lose: Banking sector stocks failed to attract the bulls. Barring a few of them such as Union Bank, ICICI Bank, Karnataka Bank and HDFC Bank, most of them ended with losses.

There was selective buying among the FMCG stocks. Ruchi Soya, HLL, Dabur and Liberty shoes advanced while Henkel India, Shaw Wallace and GTC Industries shed value.

Mixed bag of response: There was a mixed bag of response among the auto stocks and auto-ancillary stocks. While Sundaram Fasteners, Eicher, Punjab Tractors and Pricol ended with respectable gains, MRF, Exide, Amtek India, Amara Raja Batteries and LML ended on a weak note.

Metals add sheen: Metals stocks had a fine outing. Hindustan Zinc, Nalco, Jindal Stainless, Sesa Goa, Mahindra Ugine, Sterlite Industries and Tinplate managed to add sheen to the market. A few of them that lost lustre included the likes of GMDC, Vesuvius and Gujarat NRE Coke.

Jagran Prakashan made its trading debut at Rs 381.2. It, however, closed at Rs 273.7 against the offer price of Rs 320.

Other notable gainers on the NSE included the likes of Berger Paints, Bombay Dyeing, GE Shipping, Greenply Industries, Mercator Lines, Prism Cement, TV Today, Reliance Capital and Aegis Logistics.

Losers' pack: Agro Tech Foods, Ajanta Pharma, Balrampur Chini, Elgi Equipment, Hindustan Construction, KEC International, PBA Infrastructure, Taj GVK Hotels, Valecha Engg and Suzlon Energy made it to the losers' pack.