The Hindu Business Line : It's celebration time

"Friday the 13th" proved to be a day of euphoria and celebration for the bourses. The Sensex hit an all-time high of 12,756 before it closed with a gain of about 1.6 per cent. Nifty gained 59 points to close at its all-time high of 3,679. The sensex has moved from its previous high to this new high on Friday in 111 sessions. Positive clues from global markets help boost the sentiment. However, market breadth was negative, thus, reflecting the profit-booking tendency in both small and midcap segments. The advance-decline ratio was pegged at about 0.7:1.

Among the BSE sectoral indices, IT and tech were the prominent movers, while only select midcap and smallcap stocks participated in the rally.

From June 14 to October 13, the total FII inflow during this period amounts to Rs 12833.8 crore. Banking and IT sector were the star performers, with ICICI Bank, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Satyam Computers, Infosys, TCS, Bharti Airtel, Grasim and Reliance Communication, among the prominent gainers.

Buzzing stocks

Suzlon Energy gained 5.7 per cent after its wholly owned subsidiary and its international business arm, Suzlon Energy A/S bagged its first order from SIIF Energies to supply wind turbines. Crisil gained 10 per cent on the back of a registered net profit growth of 61.9 per cent in the second quarter September 2006.

Reliance Communication gained 6.3 per cent on strong volumes. A strong growth in the subscription base triggered renewed buying in the counter. Infosys, HDFC Bank and BHEL were among the other gainers in large caps. Geodesic Info continued its gain for the second day with a gain of 5.8 per cent.

In the small-caps space, DS Kulkarni continued to move northwards and ended the day with again of 10 per cent. Other counters to clock gains were Viceroy Hotels, Mid-day Multimedia and Four Soft.

Reliance, Grasim, Asian Hotels and Divi's Lab were some counters that struck its all-time high during the day.

Sector focus

Better-than-expected Infosys results have buoyed up the sentiment in the sector. The IT index gained 2.3 per cent. Some of the prominent gainers in the sector were Tech Mahindra, Geometric Software, Nucleus Software and Tulip IT.

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The banks were a mixed bag. Karnataka Bank, Canara Bank and Centurion Bank of Punjab gained, while Bank of India, Federal Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce moved southwards. UTI Bank gained 3.2 per cent after it reported 30.2 per cent growth in net profit for the second quarter September 2006.

The BSE-tech index gained 2.5 per cent. Major gainers in this space were Sterlite Opticals, NDTV and ENT Network.

Stock-specific action

Balaji Amines gained 10 per cent on news that its board will meet on October 23 to consider an issue of bonus shares.

Deccan Aviation surged 2.2 per cent after it assigned the purchase of 60 Airbus aircraft to a special purpose vehicle.

Dolphin Offshore gained 2.3 per cent after signed a MoU with IMPaC Offshore of Germany to set up joint venture company in India.

Deccan Chronicle gained 2.6 per cent after its promoters sold 4.12 per cent stake in the company.

Other gainers, losers

Godrej Industries, India Infoline, FAG Bearings, Kewal Kiran and GTC Industries were some of the counters that gained during the day. TNPL, Usha Martin, Timex Watches, Glenmark Pharma and Carol Info were among the losers.