The Hindu Business Line : Markets back on upward path

Trading highlights
Day's trade was also not without its share of choppiness
Markets also seemed to have cheered up with the news of oil prices showing a more consistent downward move

After five consecutive trading sessions during which the benchmark indices beat the retreat, the stock markets on Thursday finally managed to heave back on an upward path.

The BSE Sensex, for example, has had a freefall during the first three trading sessions of this week and the two final sessions of last week, during which a total of about 930 points or 8.5 per cent was wiped out.

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General market trend

Thursday's 345-point jump was probably due after the kind of sharp correction that the market had witnessed, but there were no indicators that this level of upward movement would be sustained through the day.

The day's trade was also not without its share of choppiness, during which the major indices swayed within a range of about four per cent.

The Sensex opened with a modest 1.8 per cent jump. After the initial spurt, the market went through a series of ups and downs as tenuous investors booked profits at intra-day peak levels on stocks across the board.

Index stocks, small-cap and mid-cap stocks all came under selling pressure, though repeated bouts of buying helped push up prices later into Thursday's trading hours.

There have been a few persisting negative indicators from global markets during the last few days.

But on Thursday, the markets, on the lines of the other Asian markets, seem to have taken to some positive vibes from the recent statements of the US Federal Reserve Chairman, Dr Ben Bernanke.

His remarks that he is concerned about inflation, but doesn't think that the US is headed towards recession, had a salubrious effect on markets worldwide.

The markets also seemed to have cheered up with the news of oil prices showing a more consistent downward move.

The Sensex and the NSE's S&P CNX Nifty index closed the day with a strong leap of 3.45 per cent and 3.08 per cent respectively. There was only one loser - GAIL - from the Nifty set of fifty stocks.

Sector Focus

Thursday's session witnessed considerable buying activity in select sectors. Stocks from banking, metals, cement, power, IT, entertainment, FMCG, and pharmaceutical sectors, were in demand.

While prominent gainers were from banking, cement, power, and metals, the others were a mixed bag, with gainers outnumbering losers.

Other sectoral indices such as automobile, capital goods, oil and gas, and PSUs were also in the loop, posting gains, but due to select losers within their ranks they were relatively modest performers in comparison to the major, benchmark indices.

The Sensex stocks that posted the highest gains on Thursday included Ranbaxy Laboratories, Reliance Energy, Tata Steel, Hindalco, ICICI Bank, SBI and Satyam Computer.

Metals and related stocks that were in the limelight were Sterlite Industries, Sesa Goa, Hindustan Zinc and Jindal Steel.

The other major gainers from the banking sector were Bank of India, Oriental Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank. At the NSE, Sonata Software, Bajaj Hindustan, Shreyas Shipping and Indiabulls were some of the biggest gainers.