The Hindu Business Line : Auto, FMCG, pharma, steel stocks gain ground

Trading highlights
Ranbaxy led the gainers' pack by surging close to 7 per cent
Sadbhav Engineering touched the upper circuit filter and closed with a gain of 17 per cent.
Praj Industries ended on a positive note. The stock has gained close to 50 per cent over the last one month.

After crossing the 12,000-mark on Thursday, the market turned weak on Friday. Though it opened on a positive note, the momentum could not sustain. The markets, however, recouped most of the losses towards the end of the day and ended on a rather flat note.

HLL, Ranbaxy, Tata Motors and Maruti showed strength in an otherwise weak market.

Sector focus

Auto, FMCG, pharma and steel stocks gained ground. FMCG stocks moved up on expectations of positive outlook for FMCG companies. Marico had earlier declared a 16 per cent topline growth for the last quarter of FY06.

Pharma stocks too were on an uptrend. Ranbaxy led the pack and gained close to 7 per cent on the back of good numbers. Mid-cap pharma stocks such as Torrent Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma gained close to 5 per cent.

Other gainers from the pharma space were Lupin, Shasun Chemicals and Cadila Healthcare. Auto stocks such as Punjab Tractors and M&M too showed strength in expectation of stronger set of monthly numbers.

Realty companies such as Ansal Properties, Unitech and Mahindra Gesco have recently caught investor attention and exhibited heightened activity. The upcoming mega issue of DLF could have built up expectations around the sector.

Mid-cap movers

Among mid-cap stocks, Walchandnagar Industries, Panacea Biotech, Gujarat Alkalies, Gangotri Textiles, Granules India, FCS Software and Cosmo Films are some of the prominent gainers. Sadbhav Engineering has been on the uptrend over the last couple of days. The stock touched the upper circuit filter and closed 17 per cent up on Friday.

Provouge, Kewal Kiran Clothing and Indo Rama Synthetics were among the prominent gainers in the textile space.

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Praj Industries too ended on a positive note. The stock has gained close to 50 per cent over the last one month. The company bagged some big-ticket orders in the last quarter to be executed in FY07.

This is expected to prop numbers for FY07 after a depressed show in the third quarter of FY06. Government's initiative to increase ethanol blending to 10 per cent too could have fuelled the stock.

Companies in the oil exploration sector have been in the buying list for quite a while. Better prospects for oil exploration world over have triggered interest in these stocks. Aban Loyd has been one of the beneficiaries of the upward boom in rig rates. However, Aban Loyd Chiles and Selan Exploration slipped a bit while the stock of South East Asia Marine gained sharply.

The losers

Top losers were Satyam, Tata Chemicals, NTPC and Hindalco. Among the mid-cap stocks some of the major losers were Ispat Industries, Welspun Gujarat, Tata Elxsi, Abbott, Syndicate Bank, IOB, Astra Microwave, CG Igarishi Motors, Aksh Optifibre, Jay Bharat Maruti, Blue Dart Express and LG Balakrishna Brothers.