The Hindu Business Line : Sensex marches on thanks to corporate results

Robust results from India Inc have raised the spirits of the bourses. Investor trepidation and anxiety seemed to have no effect on Sensex, which gained for the second consecutive session. The Sensex opened firm and touched an all-time high of 13,174 points on Thursday.

Nifty breached the 3,800-mark and ended the day with a gain of 24 points.

Mixed global cues failed to influence the Indian markets, which enjoyed a positive breadth throughout the day.

However, profit booking in select small and midcap stocks trimmed the gains and resulted in weak market breadth. The advance-decline ratio was pegged at 0.94:1.

Buzzing Stocks

ONGC spiced up the market with a gain of 4.35 per cent on reports that the Government has firmed up the natural gas policy whereby prices will be fixed by competitive bidding.

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Market estimates that the stock would continue showing earnings growth during the next year due to an increase in its global production further added to the buying interest.

Meanwhile, the company has proposed a joint venture with Russia's Roseneft and Gazprom for exploration of oil and gas in that country.

Maruti Udyog surged by about two per cent owing to renewed buying interest.

Reliance Industries witnessed lot of buying after it doubled its natural gas output estimate from deep-sea fields to 80 million cubic m a day.

Among midcaps, Patel Engineering, Kalyani Steel, SKF India and Dishman Pharma clocked gains.

AIA Engineering surged by six per cent. The company had reported strong second quarter results recently.

Elecon Engineering, HEG, KPIT Cummins and Esab India were among the small caps that appreciated during the day.

Asian Hotels, SBI, Grasim, Reliance and Aditya Birla Nuvo were among the stocks that touched an all-time high on Thursday.

Sector Focus

The oil & gas sector hogged the limelight during the day on the back of weak crude prices. The index gained 1.86 per cent. ONGC and Reliance led the gainers pack while other counters that moved northwards were Gujarat State Petronet, IOC, BPCL and HPCL.

Consumer durables stocks were also in demand. Fedders Lloyd posted a gain of about six per cent; Rajesh Exports gained 4.2 per cent. Classic Diamonds gained over three per cent after the company announced that its board would meet on November 9 to consider a 5-for-1 stock split. It also has plans to raise $100 million (Rs 450 crore) for overseas acquisitions. Bajaj Electricals, Mirc Electronics, Hitachi Home Appliances and Whirlpool India were among losers in this space.

The brokerage companies seemed to have kept the investor interest alive. With the markets hitting new highs, brokerage stocks continued to gain. Geojit Financial Services gained about 3.6 per cent and Indiabulls eight per cent.

India Infoline and Prime Securities gained over one per cent during the day.

Technology stocks ended weak by the close of trading session on Thursday.

The BSE IT index slipped by 0.8 per cent. Patni Computers, Satyam Computers, Hexaware, Tulip IT, Visual Soft and Carol Info were among the laggards.

Among the stocks that clocked gains in this sector were Tata Elxsi, Subex Azure, R Systems and NIIT.

Gainers and losers

ICSA Industries, PSL, SKF India, Aegis Logistics and Glenmark Pharma were some counters that clocked gains. Among stocks that ended in red were Jagran Prakashan, Panacea Biotec, McDowell, Spice and KSB Pumps.