The Hindu Business Line : IT, metals, cement stocks in spotlight

The bulls took charge of the market during the final-hour of trade on Friday and impelled the sensitive index into positive grounds. Sensex posted its biggest gain in the last nine weeks.

Stocks from the software, metals and cement sectors were major gainers for the day. The BSE Midcap index remained subdued and closed almost flat.

The domestic market took initial cues from Asian markets, which traded weak and closed on a flat note.

Overseas investors continued to view the market with caution, as they were net sellers to the tune of Rs 202 crore on Thursday.

Buzzing stocks

Among the basket of BSE 30, Ranbaxy surged 4.1 per cent to Rs.385.9.

The pharma major's stock rose on optimism that it would get the approval of the Food and Drug Administration to sell its copy of Merck's cholesterol drug Zocor in the US.

In the mid-cap space, SRF added 6.4 per cent to Rs 214.9 on the back of plan to buy back shares at a price not exceeding Rs 250 through the open market route.

United Breweries, BF Utilities and Patel Engineering were some of the stocks that hit the upper circuit filter on Friday.

Sector focus

The BSE Oil & Gas index was the biggest gainer among the sector indices. ONGC, Reliance Industries and GAIL were stocks that propelled the index to higher grounds. ONGC gained 3 per cent to Rs.1095.3. The company plans to spend Rs 4,800 crore on exploration activity as against Rs 4,000 crore in the previous year.

Banking stocks closed on a weak note. Frontline stocks State Bank of India and ICICI Bank closed in the red, while HDFC Bank managed to weather bear challenges and gained 2.6 per cent at close.

Metal stocks managed to attract attention despite volatility in international metal prices. SAIL and Tata Steel surged 6.7 per cent and 6 per cent respectively on the back of strong volumes.

Sterlite Industries and Tata Sponge Iron also closed in the green.

Stock-specific action

After market close, Jet Airways announced the filing of an arbitration petition against Sahara India Commercial in Mumbai after it gave up its plan to buy Sahara Airlines.

Jet Airways' shares fell 1.8 per cent to Rs 691.9. The company's stock declined by 39 per cent since the deal to acquire Sahara was announced on January 19.

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Auto component maker Goetze (India) plans to come up with a rights offer to its existing shareholders.

The company's board will meet on June 30 to consider the plan. The stock remained flat at Rs 305.5.

New listing: AllCargo Global Logistics made its trading debut on Friday.

The stock fell as much as 23 per cent to Rs 519.8 on listing and managed to pull back top close at Rs 669.6.

The initial public offering price was fixed at Rs 675.

Amara Raja Batteries, Cosmo Films, R Systems International, HMT and Triveni Engineering were prominent gainers among the Nifty constituents.

Nitco Tiles, Bajaj Hindustan, Tele Data Informatics, KEC International and Bajaj Auto Finance were conspicuous losers.