The Hindu Business Line : Sensex makes smart turnaround on late buying

Pointers Markets stage a rebound
Falling crude prices help market sentiments
FIIs remain net buyers
Voltamp lists at 15 per cent premium

Markets staged a recovery and gained more than what they had lost on Tuesday. Sensex had lost close to 100 points in the morning following weak global markets but made a sharp recovery in the afternoon, to close with a gain of 139 points.

All the BSE sectoral indices closed in green. Cellular service providers, FMCG and auto stocks led the day's rally. Market breadth turned positive with the day. The advance/decline ratio was pegged at 1.03:1. According to provisional data on the BSE, FIIs continued to be net buyers for Rs 128.19.

Buzzing stocks

Voltamp made its debut on Wednesday and listed at Rs 399 at a premium of 15 per cent over its offer price of Rs 345.The stock surged to an intraday high of Rs 430.90 on the back of strong volumes. Index heavy weight ONGC gained 1.78 per cent.

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Geometric Software gained close to nine per cent. It has recently launched a 3DsearchIT for SolidWorks. Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications were the biggest gainers in BSE-30, clocking a gain of 5.06 and 4.33 per cent respectively. Larsen & Toubro continued to gain ahead of the ex-date for its bonus issue.

Among mid-caps, Geodesic Info Systems gained 9.58 per cent; Strides Acrolab gained 5.59 per cent; Essar Shipping gained 4.17 per cent. Century Ply, Educomp Solutions, Paramount Communications and Ambika Cotton Mills were among gainers in the small cap segment.

Sector focus

BSE Tech index was the biggest gainer for the day. TTML recorded a gain of 6.72 per cent; Himachal Futuristic gained 2.07 per cent; Financial Technologies surged 4.33 per cent; and VSNL gained 1.72 per cent.

Auto stocks surged as crude touched its six-month low. Gabriel gained 14.35 per cent after its board announced the sale of its Mumbai property and the de-merger of its engine bearings division. The other gainers were RK Forgings, TVS Motors, Rane Engine, Maruti Udyog, M&M, Ashok Leyland, Cummins India and Bajaj Auto.

FMCG sector also saw some action with buying in select counters. Ray Ban Sun Optics surged 4.12 per cent; Henkel India gained 3.31 per cent. Other stocks to move northwards were Emami, McDowell, GAEL, ITC, Bata India and HLL.

Stocks in brokerage business seemed to gain with the rise in market. Indiabulls gained 10.95 per cent; IL&FS Investsmart gained 3.92 per cent; India Infoline surged 3.02 per cent; Apollo Sindhoori gained 11.34 per cent and Geojit recorded a gain of 2.30 per cent.

Stock-specific action

Alstom Projects rose 3.57 per cent after it announced that the group had won four major orders worth Rs 330 crore for equipment supplies and renovation & modernisation work on four power plants in India.

Micro Technologies surged two per cent after it introduced unique remote technology incubation centers, in tie-ups with the California-based Girvan Institute of Technology and a reputed engineering and technology institute SITE.

Ceat gained 2.23 per cent after it partially rolled back the price hike on tyres. The fall in both rubber and crude prices have enabled the company to reduce the price of its tyres.

Thermax gained one per cent after the Co-gen division of the company received an order worth Rs 88 crore from a cement company for supply of 1.25 mw , coal / petcoke / lignite based captive power project.