The Hindu Business Line : Frontline stocks steal the show

Pointers
Advances-declines ratio at 7:3.
Total market capitalisation on the BSE advances by Rs 1 lakh crore.
Metals stocks stage a turn-around.

The Asian markets opened with a bang; the bellwether indices — Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty also opened on a similar note.

Equity markets around the world appear to have taken in their stride for a 25-basis points hike in interest rates by the Federal Reserve.

After three days of consolidation, the bulls appeared in full force to dominate the market.

Frontline stocks stole most of the attraction with Sensex registering a 4 per cent gain; the mid-cap and small-cap indices on the BSE gained about 3 per cent each.

The strong positive sentiment could be gauged from the advances-declines ratio which tilted in favour of the gainers.

Sector watch

The markets tuned upbeat on the metals space buoyed by gains across global commodity markets.

Frontline stocks in the non-metals staged gains of more than five per cent with Hindustan Zinc leading the pack.

Other gainers included stocks such as Hindalco and Sterile, which moved up by about 7.5 per cent.

Steel also moved in sync, top gainers in this space included SAIL. Jindal Saw, Mukand, Jindal Steel and Maharashtra Seamless moved up about 7 per cent. Lanco Industries was the only prominent stock to buck the bullish trend.

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Frontline stocks in the FMCG space registered smart gains. Hindustan Lever was among the top gainers in this space with an 8.7 per cent gain.

A secular bull run could be gauged on the cigarettes front. GTC Industries and VST Industries, which were hammered over the past month, registered gains of 5 per cent and 4.5 per cent, respectively.

ITC, which was stuck at Rs 177 over the past three trading sessions, moved up by about 3 per cent to close at Rs 182.3.

Heightened trading activity was recorded on Godfrey Phillips counter, the stock gained about Rs 52 to close at Rs 1,367. Alcohol majors McDowell and Radico Khaitan also moved up sharply by about 3 per cent.

Markets were upbeat on the plantation space; buying activity could be gauged on Goodricke's counter. Other top gainers in the tea sector included stocks such as McLeod Russel, Jayshree and Bombay Burmah.

Event-specific action

NIIT gained about 3 per cent after the company reported a 11 per cent revenue growth for the fourth quarter.

However, activity on its counter remained subdued.

Unitech attracted significant buying activity after the company announced a five-fold earnings growth for the fourth quarter.

The stock closed at the upper circuit filter of Rs 227.

Wockhardt, which announced the acquisition of Dumex India along with its baby food brands from Royal Numico of the Netherlands, gained about 5 per cent.

Volumes surged ahead on its counter with about 2.5 lakh shares changing hands on the BSE.

Other gainers/losers

Jaiprakash Associates, Ingersoll Rand, Ashok Leyland, Bharat Forge, Moser Baer, IDBI, Aurobindo Pharma and Tata Teleservices were among the major gainers on the Nifty Junior.

The losers' list was sparsely populated with only IOB and Syndicate Bank shedding value marginally.