The Hindu Business Line : Index heavyweights lead recovery

In a highly volatile trading session, the bulls reigned over the bears, with the Sensex and Nifty ending with a 341-point (or 3.25 per cent) and 118 points (or 3.8 per cent) gain respectively. Saddled with the memories of Black Monday, the markets opened on a nervous note, slipped in the early part of the day, only to stage a smart recovery in post-noon trading.

As the Finance Minister reassured the investors about the Indian economy and corporate fundamentals, the smart comeback was led by the index heavyweights.

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Among the Nifty constituents, the key gainers were SAIL (16.6 per cent), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam (10 per cent), Tata Chemicals (9.7 per cent), Zee Telefilms (9.7 per cent) and Tata Steel (8.4 per cent).

The broad strength in the market was evident from the advances to declines ratio. Out of 2,460 stocks, 1,424 stocks appreciated in value while 985 stocks logged declines.

SECTOR FOCUS

Among the sectoral indices, the metals pack has staged a robust comeback, gaining 7.35 per cent during the day. With the metals staging a recovery in the global markets, the major gainers were Steel Authority of India, Sterlite Industries, Jindal Stainless and Hindalco Industries.

Other sectoral indices that outperformed the broad markets were consumer durables (among the biggest losers on Monday), capital goods and oil and gas. Among the key gainers in the capital goods pack were ABB, Alstom Projects, Siemens and BHEL. In the oil and gas segment, the key gainer was Essar Oil, with MRPL and BPCL also ending in the positive territory.

The sectoral indices that bucked the trend were banking, FMCG, healthcare and software.

EVENT BASED ACTION

Riding on sharp trading volumes, R Systems International gained 19.3 per cent. The uptrend in the stock has to be seen in the light of the company's signing a letter of intent to acquire a technical support company serving software companies in the US. The consideration for the acquisition is estimated at $10.7 million.

Among the metals pack, the Hindalco Industries staged a smart recovery. The company has announced that it has entered into a MoU with the Madhya Pradesh Government for a greenfield smelter. The contours of the project will be 3,25,000 tonnes of smelter, 750 MW of captive power a jointly owned captive mine

Bata India bounced back with a 17.8 per cent gain during the day on the back of a substantial rise in trading volumes. The stock continues to ride on its realty story.

GAINERS AND LOSERS

Among the fancied stocks, which ended in the positive territory, were IVRCL Infrastructure, ABG Shipyard, Bhushan Steel, India Cements and Syndicate Bank. The stocks that figured in the loser's category were Voltas, Nelco, Madras Aluminium and Kirloskar Oil Engines.